When There's A Whip, There's A Way
by GreaterAxelord
Summary: Richter's past few years were a living hell for him. So, when he got the chance to redeem himself by killing Shaft and Dracula for the second time, he gladly took it. Too bad a Belmont's life is an unlucky one. In the end, he found himself in a completely different world of monsters; one where they weren't constantly attacking him. Good for a dying man like himself, he guessed.
1. Prologue: Improper Introductions

To be honest, being found dying in a forest by two kids of completely different species wasn't on Richter's To-Do list. However, life never played fair, so he just had to roll with the punches. If he could roll in his condition, that is. To start off with, Richter's life wasn't going well. Thinking about it, being under under-control by the same man who resurrected Dracula might be the reason.

It wasn't like Richter's job was killing Dracula; Oh wait, it was. With Transylvania constantly being plagued by that shell of a man, someone had to stop him. That duty was left to the Belmonts. He had just finished killing Dracula the first time when he was seemingly cursed by Shaft. Things seemed fine, but he started having lapses of memory. Then everything went black a few years later.

Next thing he knew, he was against a corner with a man named Alucard over top, hand outstretched. Strangely, Maria was there as well. At the time, he didn't know what could have gotten his adopted sister involved in the shit-show going down at the time. Then again, Richter had no clue what was going on either. At least Alucard was willing to inform him of what happened. Apparently, Richter had vanished without a trace for several years while the castle began to reappear. Richter found out that he had been possessed by the Spirit/Magic of Shaft, Dracula's Head 'Priest', and was being used to resurrect Dracula. Alucard had accidentally encountered Richter, as well as Maria, while trying to kill Dracula. Alucard had then devised a plan to tackle multiple goals at the same time, allowing the destruction of Dracula to occur sooner.

All they had to do was enter the inverse version of the castle and kill Shaft and Dracula, hopefully for good. Richter and Maria's goal was to kill Shaft, in the hopes that Shaft would use his soul and magic to resurrect Dracula as he died. Then, Alucard was supposed to head to the Reverse Ancient Tombs and kill the resurrected Dracula. Richter had asked why Alucard alone had to go, considering that the Belmonts have been killing Dracula for centuries, but Alucard only said that he had a personal reason. Richter didn't have the time to think, for Alucard had already left. So off Richter went, destroying all of the bosses, and countless lesser enemies that stood in his way. After eliminating Galamoth, the last boss alive, he began his trek to the tower. After launching himself over the broken staircase, he finally found himself in the familiar pathway to the Throne Room. There, Shaft was waiting for him.

The battle between Shaft and Richter had been brutal. Richter had expected some difficulty due to Shaft, prior to this fight, absorbing the essence, souls, and magic of every boss defeated. This was the plan all along, and Richter knew this. For Shaft to correctly resurrect Dracula, he had to be in possession of extreme power. Yes, their plan was going smoothly, and it hadn't encountered any major difficulties. However, that didn't mean that the battle would be easy as well. Richter had to correctly utilize his Flail-Whip and all of his sub-weapons, from the Dagger to the Agunea Gauntlet, to succeed such a daunting task. As Richter's hearts and health were depleted, Shaft's health followed. The battle seemed to last for ages, but eventually, Richter managed to land a crippling blow with his Ultimate Uppercut. Shaft had fallen from his levitation, and landed on the floor with a loud thud. Richter could see that Shaft was dying, and Shaft seemed to notice this.

Richter wasn't doing so well either, or at least he thought this as he stared at the amount of blood pooling around him. Looking at himself, he saw multiple gashes and magical burns that were located everywhere on his body. This left his favorite outfit ruined. Thinking about it, Richter considered himself lucky. Most Belmonts only survive long enough to kill Dracula once; Richter, however, had stormed the castle three different times. Too bad his luck just ran out. Richter knew that someone would always try to defend the Human Race from Dracula. Maria was more than capable of adopting the Belmont name. He just hoped that his sister wouldn't become too pissed that he was so willing to die. He knew she always had a warrior's spirit. With this thought, Richter could die peacefully.

What Richter didn't know was that Shaft had enough magic to launch a killing spell at Richter AND resurrect Dracula. Suddenly, an orb of endless color was launched towards Richter. Richter, unable to move, crawled against the Memorial Altar; a gateway between both versions castles. As the orb collided with the altar, everything began to be sucked towards the impact zone. A large rift opened up, absorbing Richter, some carpet, and the Altar. The last thing Richter saw was Maria running towards the rift and Shaft's corpse, strangely, sinking into the floor. Once the rift closed, Richter could feel himself being launched at incredible speed through the whiteness that was the inside of the rift. Time seemed to be a lost concept here, for Richter's thoughts were absent. He, in a way, knew and saw nothing until a large hole opened up at the end of this tunnel. Suddenly, he and the Altar crashed into a forest. He managed to sit and lean against the cold surface of the Altar. He sat there for what seemed to be hours, unable to move. It was nearing dusk, from what he could see. The Belmont felt that dying in a new world might lessen the grief of his sister. She might assume he would be alive and never give in to the depression that quickly followed the death of a loved one. Sighing, he closed his eyes for a brief second. Or so it seemed; he must've fallen unconscious, for he was woken by a child-like voice he had never heard before.

"Are you ok mister?"

Opening his eyes, Richter saw two children. The first thing that was noticeable was that the second child wasn't human. He, Richter thought it was male, looked incredibly abnormal even considering what he had seen in his quests. The kid had white fur, with a snout protruding from his face. Long ears, like a rabbit, accompanied the sides of his face. To finish it off, he had green eyes with a color similar to emeralds which were commonly found in the depths of the Castle's Caves. Richter could only see his head and part of the shoulder due to the first child standing in front of him. Both children looked to be 6-7, but the first child seemed to be older by a year. The first kid seemed to be male, Richter couldn't really tell, and looked to be one of a brave attitude. The kid seemed to be normal, with normal facial features such as brown eyes and a stubby nose. He didn't look to be of a foreign descent, so nothing strange there. Both kids were wearing striped shirts of varying colors. The human repeated his sentence.

"Hey, are you ok?"

Attempting to stand only resulted in failure, with a noticeable pool of blood forming underneath him. The Vampire Hunter could see the kids becoming increasingly worried at the blood. Mustering enough strength to actually speak, Richter said,

"Kid, I haven't been this close to death in my entire life, including the time I fought Death itself!".

Who knew that Death was working for Dracula? Richter had heard stories from the Belmonts prior, but he never considered them to be true until Death attacked his wagon.

As Richter began to chuckle, his side erupted in pain. Bringing himself out of his daze, he asked,

"Either of you understand forms of Medical Remedies?".

His question brought confused faces to both kids; those faces became the last thing he saw as a black haze enveloped his vision.

Suddenly, Richter started and woke up, slowly raising himself off of a...bed? Where he was, Richter didn't know. This wasn't his bed, he knew for sure. This environment seemed completely foreign. Unlike most of his life, this place seemed peaceful. Being a Belmont meant constant training. With Richter also having more magical powers than the other Belmonts, he had to receive addition training. He never had gotten the time to relax ever his family found out about his increased magical output. Pushing his thoughts aside, he absorbed his surroundings.

He seemed to be on an incredibly large bed. The bed itself seemed to be lacking blankets, and the only pillows he found were supporting his neck. To his left was a large dresser, with several picture frames and a small lamp. Most of the pictures were of the same children he had seen earlier. The only exception was some sort of group photograph with several unknown beings. He recognized the two children, but the rest were completely foreign. In front of the bed, at the end of the room, was a desk with a small journal resting on top. A small cup of pens rested nearby, with a stack of paper. To his left were two doors. One door was on the same wall as his head, at the moment, and the other was against the left wall. Richter assumed that the door the on wall he was laying against must be some sort of closet. That leaves the second door to be the main entrance to the room.

Feeling strangely nervous, Richter attempted to climb out of the bed; the resulting failure was loud enough to probably wake anyone in the house. Not only had he managed to completely fall, or roll in his case, off of the bed, he had managed to slam his face into the wall. Muffled footsteps were heard from the hallway, so Richter began to panic. For whatever reason he was in this bed, he didn't want to be murdered in it. Richter conjured a Rebound Stone, ready to be thrown, when someone stepped into the room at surprising speed. The entity could be best described as an adult, and more feminine, version of the foreign being from earlier. Only major differences were size and clothes. This 'monster' was wearing a robe quite similar to those found in cults. The robes were slightly shorter, coming to her ankles, with a strange symbol in the center that resembled a shield with some triangles. The being scanned the room before seeing Richter on the floor, with some strange diamond in his hand. Instead of attacking Richter, the 'monster' laughed. The laugh was incredibly soft, and Richter felt his unease slowly melt away, only to be replaced by confusion. He didn't release the Rebound Stone, though.

The 'monster' began to speak, "Oh, thank heavens; I thought Undyne had crashed through the wall again. Greetings human! I am Toriel."

Richter could only clutch, now a handful, the Rebound Stones as he tried to figure out Toriel's motive.

"I see that you are confused. My dear children had found you in the woods. Apparently, they heard a loud crash and found you. I now see what they mean. Must be a common way for you to be found."

Richter, shocked, looked down at himself to find that he was basically bound in bandages. Apparently either the kids knew how to wrap someone up, or Toriel did. Either way, he would have been dead without the assistance.

Richter rid himself of the Stones and spoke, "I'm going to assume that you are responsible for the First-Aid?"

"Indeed, human. You were injured quite badly. I'm surprised you survived the trip here. Nevertheless, I hope you are doing well now. Healing magic was always hard to attempt."

"Then I can't thank you enough."

Richter then attempted to climb up, only to result in another failure and another close meeting with the wall. Richter's voice was muffled when he spoke.

"Name's Richter, by the way. Mind explaining practically everything?" Richter's voice became increasingly unsteady as he neared the end of his sentence.

Toriel just gave Richter a strange look, and sat on the chair near the desk.

"You are going to need to be more specific on that, dear."

Richter, now dazed beyond belief, said, "Sorry. This is incredibly confusing. Where are we?"

"Oh, we are in Ebbot-town, right next to Mt. Ebbot. To be specific, my house. Shouldn't you know this though?"

Trying to play everything off cool, Richter quickly responded.

"I must've forgotten. I was unconscious for a while, after all. Can you answer two more questions?"

Toriel just nodded at his question, causing him to ask away.

"What is the date and how did I get here? Sorry if it's too much. I've forgotten a lot of things"

"It's August 13, 2104. As for how you got here, the children had gotten a wagon and carted you here."

"Hold on a second"

"Is something wrong? I hope the wall hasn't injured you further."

"It's just that I could have sworn that you said 2104."

"Yes, I did say that. That's the current year. Is there something wrong?." Toriel looked at Richter with a face that could best described as puzzled.

He broke his facade as he managed to climb up the bed and started to walk towards the door. Thankfully, he managed to keep his face away from the wall. Toriel protested several times, but Richter couldn't hear her. He just couldn't get his thoughts around the year. 2104...2104... He just COULDN'T understand how he had gotten from 1801 to 2104. Also, Ebbot-town? Where was that? He opened the door and went straight down a staircase, not paying attention to anything. Finding a door that looked like the exit, he opened it and looked outside...

It was still day outside. Wagons without horses were being ridden across roads. Different kinds of 'monsters' littered the streets and sidewalks, conversing. Everything seemed off to Richter. He just couldn't get his head around it. It seemed impossible to him that he could have ended up in a place that was so confusing to the Belmont. Richter felt Toriel come behind him and put a paw on his shoulder. Richter didn't take notice of it, though. All he could think about was his current situation. He needed to know how he landed in such an unusual place. What were all of the roaming things? What were these 'monsters' and why weren't they trying to kill him? In his twenty-five years of life, he had never experienced something like his current situation; nor did he predict something of this magnitude.

However, another thing that the Belmonts were good at was handling shock. To be able to fight the demonic atrocities, he had to be able to handle shock. So, with a shaky sigh, he turned around and asked,

" I don't mean to cause too much trouble, but I'm still confused. Could you maybe give me an explanation of what happened between the years of 1801 to 2104? I hope it isn't too much of a request."

Toriel stood there confused for several seconds. Then, she seemed to realize something which brought further confusion. She didn't try even slightly to hide her emotions.

"Where did you come from, Richter?"

Knowing the long story and the incoming series of questions, he asked,

"Well, I'm still working that out. I can still explain some things though. This might take a while. Is there a place to sit and converse?"

Toriel nodded and went back inside, with Richter following. He just knew it would be a long day.


	2. Chapter 1: Elaborate Explanations

Due to his shock before, Richter couldn't really admire his surroundings. Now that he has gotten over it, he finally decided to look around. The first thing he noticed was the furniture. The furniture was larger than what he had expected. Then considering the size of the bed, he realized that he should have expected it. The house wasn't imposing in the slightest, with the rooms being slightly too small for the large furniture. T'was strange to him, though, that the 'monsters' moved into a house too small for them. They couldn't have built the house. Toriel seemed to be a wise 'monster', so it probably wasn't likely that they built a small house on purpose.

Richter's thoughts were disturbed by Toriel's voice asking,

"You don't know much about this place, do you?"

Richter had been looking at a dining table that had chairs of completely different heights. Nodding, Richter stated,

"I will be able to explain once we sit down and talk. This entire situation is just unusual."

Toriel walked into the living room and offered one of the larger chairs there. Sitting down, Richter couldn't help but notice the unusual fireplace. What made it so unusual was that it didn't have a chimney. The fireplace was just a small cubby in the wall. From Richter's understanding of fire, it usually produced smoke. Why would they have a fireplace that can't be used? As well as the unusual fireplace, the pictures above it didn't prove to be much of an explanation as to what was happening. The photograph had the exact same 'monsters' from the images earlier. He assumed they must be friends or family. Now that both people were seated, Toriel spoke,

"So, Richter, could you please explain how you got here. You had said that you were from the year 1801, but it's impossible for a human to live that long. Not only that, you seem to have no knowledge of the current date. It's as if you came from a completely different time."

Richter just chuckled, ignoring the lingering pain in his side from doing so, and said,

"I really hope you have the time, for this will take a while."

Toriel nodded.

"I've got more time than you think. With no school during the weekend and having my lessons planned, there really isn't much for me to do. So, tell your story"

Getting comfortable, Richter began.

"To be honest, I don't know where to start. For this to work, I need to know something. Have you heard of the Belmont family?

"No, I haven't. Should I know the name?

"What about the name Dracula? Have you heard that name?"

"Yea, I have! Isn't that a big villain in those human horror movies involving vampires? I know that the movies were based off of the book. Not that bad, actually. Human's have decent literature."

Richter had the sudden, grim realization that Dracula might not exist here. That meant that he was sent not only to a different time, but a different version of his world as well. Richter knew that the world he was in was the same WORLD, but maybe not the same version. Richter never really had to think of such abstract situations before. That didn't mean that he wasn't taught about things like it though. Living in a family of Vampire Hunters, Mages, and Prophets had taught him a lot. Strangely, he was told of stories involving jumping dimensions, whatever that meant. He had to stop his thoughts from spiraling out of control.

Richter began,

"Then there really isn't a good way to explain this. See, I think I came from a different 'version' of this world. Not only that, I think it was from a different time. I know about as much as you do."

Toriel looked like she wanted to say something, but she stopped herself. In reality, she had more questions than she assumed the man could deal with.

"First, introductions. I'm Richter Belmont, a Master Vampire Hunter. I was born, raised, and trained here...Well, I mean another version of here. The reason is very simple. You see, where I'm from, there are these mystical forces of good and evil. Beings of incredible power are used to keep those forces balanced. However, every 100 years, the Good force weakens. This allows more demonic and evil entities to rise. This caused incredible destruction and chaos, as Evil tried to take over the world. One of those beings was Dracula, a Vampire Lord. Probably one of the vilest and cruelest creatures in existence. That's where the Belmonts came in. Our job was to kill Dracula and his monsters-"

Toriel flinched at this. Richter found that to be a bit unusual.

"-so that the forces become balanced once again. We had been doing this for generations, and we had never failed. Then my generation was formed. Dracula was resurrected again, and I was sent to deal with him. I stormed his castle, killed his mage, Shaft, and finally killed Dracula. However, unlike every other time he was killed, I destroyed him entirely. His soul and body were decimated. What I didn't know was that Shaft had placed a possession spell on me, which slowly took over. I had lived with my adopted sister, Maria, at the time; another story for another day. I had just disappeared after a while. This is where things become shifty. I had somehow summoned the castle and Shaft; my goal apparently to resurrect Dracula. I was stopped by a man named Alucard, who was assisted by Maria. They rid me of the spell, and with my help, stormed both versions of the castle. Yeah, somehow the castle had a reverse version that housed Shaft and the summoning process. So I guess, in a way, I stormed Dracula's castle three times. If you knew the lifespan of the Belmonts, than you would be amazed. To cut this short, I killed the bosses and lesser minions AND marched my tired body up to Shaft. Fighting an empowered Shaft is the explanation to my wounds. As he died, he had somehow sent me and the Altar through a rift."

Toriel nodded and said,

"Then you landed in the forest and was taken here by my children."

"Yea, that basically covers it. I thought you wouldn't take this well. It's an absurd story, to say the least."

Toriel responded,

"I've heard more confusing stories. You don't live to this age without hearing the strangest of tales."

"Anyway, I'm surprised that I survived the damage and the fall as well. I was in critical condition before he sent me through. Maybe my masterful handle on magic had to do with it, but I-"

Toriel gasped and stared at Richter with a shocked face.

"What, did I say something?"

"Yes, you did. You said you had a masterful handle on magic? The only humans who we have ever encountered who could use magic died hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago!"

"Like I said, I'm from a different time of a different version of this world".

Toriel was ecstatic. She never would give up the opportunity to learn, even if it was slightly controversial.

"What kinds of magic do you know? I never knew that people other than monsters could use magic proficiently. Even the humans of the past couldn't use magic as well as us."

"Well, all of it revolved on offensive magic for killing the monsters-"

Toriel flinched heavily again. Richter sighed and restarted with a different subject.

"Before we continue Toriel, I need to address something. I've noticed that you flinch when I talk about killing monsters. You see, our versions of monsters are different, so when I say monster, I mean a horse riding skeletons and possessed suits of armor that throw axes. When you say monsters, you mean-?"

"I mean creatures like me. Loving and caring souls who like to socialize and bake pies...Although some of us seem more excited than others."

Toriel quickly glanced towards a patch of wall next to the front door that looked like it had been destroyed several times.

"That's good to know. Hopefully the excited monster that broke that wall doesn't come by for now. I don't think I could handle it."

"Yeah, she can be a bit extreme. Same goes for her culinary activities."

Richter had no clue who she was talking about, so he decided to get back to the point.

So you were asking about what kinds of magic I can use?"

"Yes"

"Then I will gladly elaborate"

With a smile, Richter slowly cleared the unusually low coffee table.

"See, all Belmonts can conjure endless amounts of certain items. Well, until we run out of magic, or mana. They look like hearts... It's a strange process. Anyway, the list has slowly increased over the years as our power increased, but I know them all by heart"

He chuckles at this. He begins to summon the respective objects as he states the name.

"We have the basic stuff such as Daggers, Throwing Axes, Boomerang Crosses, and Flasks of Holy Water. Then, things become more complex. We have the Rebounding Stones, Holy Books, and Blessed Ash. Then we have the complex items. We only have one of each of these, but we can empower these items to enact special events. Those items are the Stopwatch and the Agunea Gauntlet. Each one does their own thing, and the Belmonts used them constantly. Well, most of them. See, the later generations of Belmonts have increasing levels of power. With my incredible ability to use advanced forms of magic, I could conjure and use more powerful items. As well as that, I have the ability to empower these conjured items even more to produce devastation, but are physically taxing. I like to call them Item Crashes.

"Do you know anything else other than conjuration?"

"Yes, yes I do."

Richter de-conjured the produced items and focuses back on Toriel.

"You see, the Belmont family is incredibly holy. That's one of the main reasons why we were so powerful against Dracula and his minions. Holy, for us, means that we are intertwined in the forces of good. By being connected to these forces, we can truly harm the forces of evil. My generation figured out how to combine our Holy connections to our physical abilities. So our non-casting move sets are hybrids of physical prowess and magical skill. Adept is a common term used to describe people with that ability."

"That everything?"

"Nope. I also can manage elemental magic, some more than others. I've only mastered two kinds. I learned about my ability right before I stormed the castle the first time. Lightning and Fire are the forms I know and use most when it comes to elemental magic. I have the ability to channel pure lightning, which can be boosted by the Agunea Gauntlet. When it comes to fire, I can create towering pillars and can envelop my flail-whip. I haven't been able to directly cast it towards something, though."

"Anything else? This is fascinating!"

Richter thought about mentioning his ability to freeze time, but decided to retain that for the sake of sanity. So Richter just shook his head and shrugged.

"That is amazing! To know that beings of greater magical power exists is something to be shocked at."

"It's truly nothing. Being from a different version of this world, this should be expected. I'm sure you can produce more effective magical spells. Now then, I was wondering if you could answer some of my questions."

"I don't mind. You deserve some answers."

"Ok, let's start off with the inventions between the years 1801-2104."

So Richter and Toriel conversed about the extreme change of technology since 1801. Needless to say, Richter had a lot to learn. Apparently, Toriel had been under a mountain for most of it, so she was also learning. Richter handled the information rather well; something that surprised Toriel. From his description of what his world was like, they had nothing when it came to technology. They were on the subject of automobiles when the front door opened and two young voices floated in. Toriel, mid-sentence, halted and looked towards the front hall. A young voice called,

"Mom, were home!"

And then the two children from earlier stepped into view. Richter suddenly became conscious of the fact that he wasn't wearing his normal tunic, and instead his chest was only covered by the blanket of bandages. In fact, most of his clothes were torn and tattered from the constant fighting and the fall. Disregarding his thoughts, he turned completely towards the kids and simply waved. The goat kid, Toriel said it was Asriel, waved back and smiled. The human, however, said,

"That was fast. You looked like you would be out for a while."

Richter chuckled to himself.

"Your mom is amazing when it comes to first aid. No idea someone could heal a person at such a speed."

Toriel just laughed and brushed the compliment aside.

Looks like the introductions just began, and Richter knew that it was going to be his life for a while. A while meaning until his destroyed body heals; from the looks of things, it would take quite a long time. That is, until he decides that he needs to get home.

Wasting no time, both children sat down and looked like they were going to explode if they weren't able to ask their questions. Richter, not wanting to be responsible for the deaths of two children, said,

"Go on ahead."

About two second later, Frisk asked,

"Who are you sir? You aren't from here."

Richter found that to be a blunt way of saying it. Then again, he knew that they were simple children. After sitting there doing nothing, Richter decided to respond before Toriel assumed that the wall really did do something to his mental capabilities,

"There really isn't a simple way of explaining this. I'll try my best to simplify the story as best as I can. You see, I came from another version of this world. Not only that, I came from another TIME from the other world. In that world, I killed monsters-" Richter noticed the kids flinching. "- and halted the efforts of a vampire lord. On my third run, I was accidentally sent here by an evil human mage."

"Then why were you so hurt then?" asked the human child again.

"In my line of work, one is injured constantly. Doesn't really help that my second and third trip occurred back-to-back. Repeating the same quest over and over again has the ability to wear one down."

The human kid sat there, thinking. While it was happening, the goat kid decided to question Richter further. The Belmont thought the word interrogate would be more apt.

"What do you mean by monsters? Do you mean vampires as in the ones from the movies? You kill things? Why did you fall from the sky? How are you still alive?"

Richter had to stop the kid before he killed him with questions. Richter had forgotten how curious most children were.

"Slow down there; I just recovered enough to stay awake. I don't want to pass out from question overload."

The goat-child looked down, embarrassed. Richter immediately thought of a sheep, but had to dispel those thoughts. He didn't like to assume too many things anyway. It was a risk he wasn't going to take.

"I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can. By monsters, I mean vile creatures that are commanded to kill people. Things like demons and possessed suits of armor with gigantic axes. I don't know what you mean by vampires from movies, but this vampire had one goal: To see the world destroyed and burning. He would do anything to just watch men suffer and would keep these people in constant agony. A truly terrible creature he was. Anyway, next question. Yes, I do kill things. I have to. It's my job to destroy these monsters and send them back to the hell they came from. I was assigned that role and I had the willpower to keep it. This nicely segways into my next answer. Why I came from the sky, I don't know. However, I already told you about the mage accidentally sending me here with a failed killing spell. I have to deal with stuff like that quite often, so that's why I'm still alive. I guess you could say that I'm resilient. My training also helped. Any other questions?"

Both kids looked like they were about to explode; or so Richter assumed. He hoped that sudden combustion wasn't a thing in his current world. It would make his life a lot harder

Richter turned to Toriel and found that she had an apologetic expression. Richter assumed that he had just dug his own grave with the shovel of "Willingly Answering Questions".

About two hours later, the questions stopped. The marathon of incredibly varied inquiries was nearly impossible to handle in one sitting. Richter tried to answer as many questions as he could, but some of them got personal. Richter had accidentally said Annette's name, and he had to basically demand that they don't ask about it. He was NOT getting into that...Ever. Even Toriel was curious. Near the end, Richter offered a proposal. They get to have ten final questions to ask, but they have to answer ten of his own. Richter went with simple stuff, such as their names and such. They decided that complex questions were the best way to go. Different mindsets, he guessed. Asriel, the goat child, seemed the most cautious when it came to the questions. However, the questions that he asked were incredibly informative for him. He seemed to understand the general concept of multiple versions of this world. Richter honestly didn't expect that. Then again, Richter didn't know what to expect anymore. The place he currently resided in followed different rules and ideals; new technology and creations abound. Too many things to completely understand in one day. Only Toriel seemed to understand his sentiments.

After Frisk's final question, Richter decided to leave. He'd admit that it was a bit rash, but Richter didn't have a choice. Richter needed to find a way off of the current world and back to his own. Richter couldn't just stay there knowing that Maria could be in danger. Richter knew that she was incredibly tough and powerful, but he knew she wasn't immortal. If Richter could end up in his current situation, who knows what could happen to her. They obviously didn't handle his departure well.

Toriel was off her chair seemingly a second after he had said that. "You can't leave! You've barely healed, yet alone recovered enough to head off. Where would you go?"

Richter expected to be questioned, but he never knew she would be so sincere. She was truly worried. Richter could count the amount of people who truly worried about him on one hand. Being the naturally talented kid of the bunch made it so that he wasn't the subject of worry.

"I need to. I'm tougher than I look, trust me. I have to head back to the altar and figure out how to go back home."

Asriel spoke up, "Why would you want to go back? That place seemed mean from what you said!"

"Only when Dracula comes back is the terrible part. The rest of the time is nice. As well as that, I just can't abandon my sister.

"Maria?"

"Yea. She can fend for herself, but she isn't as strong or powerful as me. If this happened to me, than it could happen to her. I need to get there before something bad happens to her. I would fail my duties as a big brother if I didn't."

With his main statements over-with, Richter headed towards the door. Before he even put his hand on the door handle, hee knew he couldn't leave without thanking the family though. Thus, he turned around.

"Before I leave, I have to thank you. You were such good hosts and you seem to be amazing people. In a way, I wish I could stay; I can't though"

Toriel halted the kids and looked Richter straight in the eye. He saw only concern in her slightly crimson eyes.

"Then we wish you good luck. If you do get it working, at least come by to say farewell."

"I can do that."

And with that, he was out the door; the forest being his set destination. Richter couldn't allow himself to look back, or he might not make it far.


	3. Chapter 2: Radical Revelations

The trek towards the forest was surprisingly easy. It was unnerving how easily Richter found his way towards the Altar. It seemed to act as a magical beacon, and he followed it. Maybe the spell did more than just transporting Richter and giving him a killer headache.

The forest itself was incredibly thick, with only a dirt path cutting through it; reminding Richter of an unwanted scar. He couldn't identify the type of tree that was quite abundant in the forest but they looked like Burch Trees. As Richter walked down a path that seemed to lead towards a mansion, a small gap in the trees suddenly became apparent. He went through and found himself in front of the altar. It had somehow made a clearing, absorbing most of the trees in the general area. Still coated with his blood, it looked like it was feeling the same way Richter was. He couldn't help but laugh at such a silly notion. Richter could sense the magical power radiating off of it. As he was approaching, it began to hum in a deep tone. Even stranger was that Richter felt...comforted by its presence. He thought it might have been a stupid idea to touch it, but Richter decide to do it anyway. As he made contact, Richter realized two things.

The first realization was that Richter was in no condition to go anywhere at the time. Normally a Belmont was overconfident in resilience. However, his opinion on his own integrity changed as he became incredibly dizzy while reaching out to touch the altar. Richter presumed that this was due to blood loss.

The second realization was that all of the souls and spirits of the monsters that Richter had fought had somehow manifested in this altar. In fact, the power of the castle seemed to rest in this altar. He manged to piece it together from the series of images that he found forced into his head. Richter didn't know how it happened, but he didn't have time to think; Richter had passed out after touching it.

Richter woke up, not in the forest, but presumably in his dreams. He was in the castle's town. Not like the town could say otherwise, though. It was already a shock considering that he hasn't had dreams since he was a kid, but it was magnified by the fact that the dream was taking place in the Castle Town. Richter automatically assumed it was a nightmare. Those were more common than dreams for a Belmont. As he prepared himself for the horrors that could appear, Richter surprisingly received none. Everything was eerily quiet. This was incredibly confusing to Richter. If the castle was up, that meant Dracula was back; and if Dracula was back, then the town would be occupied by some of his lesser minions. Yet, none were stationed here. Incredibly confused, Richter headed towards the castle. He met no resistance on his way towards the castle's courtyard. That's where things got funky. Not the word Richter would've used on a normal day, but this wasn't even close to normal for him.

For in the courtyard was a group of random monsters relaxing. They weren't trying to destroy the tombstones or attack each other. They were just...there. Near the gate were some Blue Venus Weeds tending to a new garden. When Richter arrived at the courtyard, they all turned towards him and stared. No one was attacking him, but no one was talking either. One of the Axe Knights conversing noticed Richter and jogged towards the Vampire Hunter. Assuming this was an attack, Richter took a step back and summoned some Holy Water. The Axe Knight noticed this and held up his hands in surrender. Then it spoke,

"Hold there. I'm not trying to attack you here. Can you put away the Water so we can talk?...Richter?"

At the Axe Knight's mention of Richter's name, he de-summoned the Water and stood normally. The Axe Knight seemed pleased by this and approached Richter.

"This must be terribly confusing. Welcome to our home in the Altar." To emphasize this, he waved his arms about wildly.

Richter couldn't believe what he had just said. He assumed that he must've misheard him. For a second there, he thought he had said home and altar in the same sentence.

"You don't know why you are here, do you?"

Richter realized that the Axe Knight truly wasn't going to be hostile, so he relaxed.

"Honestly, I have a few ideas; that's about it. Mind explaining it anyway? Today has been quite eventful and somewhat perplexing."

"I know what you mean. Follow me. Also, some advice. Don't attack any of the creatures here. They're all like me. Not like we could do anything to you anyway, but you understand."

The Axe Knight walked over the drawbridge and into the castle. As Richter followed, all of the monsters looked his way and either nodded or waved. That didn't help explaining Richter's situation. Last time he had seen the monsters of the castle, they were trying to kill him. Richter didn't know how to feel about his current situation. He liked the change, but it wasn't easy to accept. It took him a while to adjust to not being attacked daily.

They walked up through the castle towards the Great Library. The castle was filled with all of the different monsters Richter, his father, or his father's father had killed. That included the bosses. Well, most of them at least. Richter had noticed that several seemed to be missing. Most noticeably, Dracula. Not that Richter was complaining though. All of the monsters were just hanging around like they had done so often. All of them that they past greeted Richter in different ways. They seemed like they didn't care that they used to be enemies. The Belmont didn't really know how to respond the absurdity of the situation. Thankfully, he didn't have to think as to how for long; Richter and the Armor Knight had reached the Library Entrance.

"Here we are. You recognize the place, right? Of course you do. Anyway, the Spear Guards and the Librarian can explain the situation better than I can. See you later, Richter."

He then simply just walked off! Richter was just baffled that the Armor Knight could just walk off. Richter thought it was his job to attack him and such. Richter steeled himself for whatever was behind this door and entered, greeted by something he didn't expect to see: A poker match consisting of several Spear Guards and an Armor Lord. Based off of the amount of chips, he assume that the Armor Lord was winning. The library wasn't as populated as some of the other sections of the castle, but it still had a respectable amount of monsters. The Schmoos were still there, so Richter guessed that was a good thing. The Armor Lord nodded at Richter's approach, but the Spear Guards took no notice of him. They seemed to be so enveloped in the game that they didn't notice their surroundings. The Armor Lord, after laying down a pair of Queens, pointed towards the upper platform. From Richter's knowledge of the place, that led to the Librarian's room. Richter thanked him and headed up. As Richter got closer to the Librarian's quarters, the amount of monsters decreased. Only a Dhuron guarded the door who promptly waved Richter in. He found it strange seeing a creature bow someone inside without a head.

The Librarian's quarters were dark. Unusually dark considering the tone of the rest of the castle. The only light was coming from a candle on the Librarian's desk. He looked up from the book he was reading and smiled.

"Welcome Richter! I'm as surprised to see you as you are."

"I guess you could say that."

"Well, let's get down to business, shall we?"

Nodding in approval, Richter let him continue as he sat down in a chair that somehow wasn't there before.

"As you may recall, the last few moments of you being in this castle was the battle with Shaft; and as you know, you were blasted, with the altar, to a different version and time of this world."

"Yea, that covers it."

"Sadly, it's more complex than it seems. You may not know this, but that altar has existed before this castle was even created. It was originally created to represent one's connection with one of the two forces. The mage who created this was originally a holy priest, who was later consumed by the raw power of evil. He had first used the monument, its original form, as a way to summon holy beings to help him cleanse evil. However, the times had changed dramatically. He later used it as a way to summon and command lost souls and spirits. He had managed to create an archive of different monsters, all who were at his mercy and command. This man later died of age and the altar remained forgotten for many years. That was until Dracula first created his castle. Dracula already had an army of monsters, but he needed to create a conduit for future summons. He then found the altar. Identifying the power of this altar, he used it to house all of the power from the castle, which included all of the beings inside of it. This is what allowed him to summon this castle and all of the monsters every time he was resurrected. The altar was directly connected to him. That was until you showed up and destroyed his true physical form. He then became one of the spirits connected to the altar. Shaft came in, with you in control, and summoned the castle. What Shaft didn't plan on was Alucard saving you from his spell. Then you came and fought him. Nothing went according to plan for that man. Not only had he accidentally launched you into a vortex instead of killing you, he also lost the altar. Soon after vortex vanished, the castle began to crumble. Alucard succeeded in killing Dracula, and both he and Maria escaped. All of the souls and spirits connected to the altar soon traveled with it."

"So, are you saying that we are inside the altar?"

"Yes, I am. When you had touched the Altar, you traveled inside of it. It works like a pocket dimension of sorts; allowing access in and out of it via a port. Now to the strange part. You were the first person to completely destroy Dracula. His soul could no longer control the altar. The control usually goes to the person who killed the previous owner. This is one of the reasons Shaft controlled you. At the time, you had control over the altar. This explains how you were able to order all of the monsters to do your bidding. You were later released of Shaft's spell and you killed him. Then you were launched into the other world with the altar. Do you see the problem here?"

"Shaft didn't kill me."

"Exactly. You still have control over the altar; Thus, you have control over all of the creatures and spirits."

Richter had to just sit back and think. So he had control over every single boss and creature that his family had fought for hundreds of years. What escaped Richter's lips was something neither of them expected Richter to say.

"Is there a way to relinquish control? From your description and how they are acting here, they seem to be rather peaceful people. They were only acting under the control of another, I assume this at least. I know what it's like to be commanded to do unspeakable things."

Richter instantly thought about Annette and recoiled with shame. The Librarian nodded sadly and gave a sympathetic look.

"Sadly, no. You are directly connected to the altar and to the souls inhabiting it. You will always be able to command them."

"And what if I refuse to command them? No way I'm screwing up relations now."

The Librarian smiled then.

"You haven't changed. Then they could freely travel between the altar and your world. However, I don't think that the world you are in would really accept another kind of monster. You already know the monster situation the humans are already dealing with."

"Then they could be introduced slowly. There are ways to correctly do this. Might as well do something."

"Are there really? From how I see these things, there isn't a correct way of doing this."

Richter sat there, quiet, for a while. The Librarian also seemed to be lost in thought.

"What if I construct a building over the altar? This would allow some of the creatures to take residence there as well as serving as a home for me. The only problem with this is that there are so many different monsters here that it would require another castle or an extremely large village...And I know I can't just summon the castle in the middle of the forest. That would create quite a commotion. To be honest, I'm tired of that fucking castle."

"Indeed. However, there is one possibility."

"To build it underground, I know. It's possible, but I don't know how I can excavate a cave large enough to fit the entire population of the castle. Wait, we could do the same but replace it with a large village. It would be more like a city, but still. I don't know how we would build that though."

"You could always ask the monsters here for help. I'm willing to bet that they would love to live in a world where they could somewhat roam and not be attacked. You wouldn't be commanding them to do an evil deed, so they most likely won't protest."

"I could...I might as well see if I can get a list of volunteers. I don't want to force the creatures who don't want to help with the construction to do something like this. Might bring about the wrong message."

"Makes sense."

"The better question is how I'm going to ask all of the monsters here. This castle is huge and many of these monsters roam between sections. The only way to inform all of the beings here of this new change is to host a meeting. That brings up the question of where."

"A meeting seems to be our best option at the moment. As for the locations, we can eliminate all of the Crypts and this library. The upper sections of the castle and the chapel aren't large enough to hold them all."

"We could always host it in the Grand Hallway."

"That seems like a excellent choice."

"Then I better get started. I'll arrange something in the Grand Hallway and beckon them there. Like I said earlier, there really isn't much for me to do. Might as well do some 'community' service."

The Librarian chuckled quietly at Richter's statement.

"So you still remember how to do this. It's been a while, and you were under the control of another."

Richter just nodded and got up, ready to leave. It was true that Richter still knew how to beckon them. It strangely was just...something he knew.

"Thanks, old man."

"Heh, I'm not as old as you think."

As Richter turned around and opened the door, the Librarian asked him a question.

"How is it that you can so easily accept that everything you knew about us was wrong? That most of us aren't truly evil creatures? You already speak of us as friends, and yet all you have done is fight us. It was only a few minutes ago that you learned that we aren't evil."

Richter didn't know how to respond to that. Richter truly didn't know why he was so accepting of this. That's when he realized why. He knew what it was like to controlled. Richter sympathized with these creatures more than any other he's encountered thus far. However, Richter didn't want to let his true emotions to be known.

"I've had a strange week."

And with a laugh, he left the room; Richter's true reasons remaining hidden to the Librarian.

The group outside the Librarian's domain was still having the poker match. Richter found it to be somewhat amusing, really, to see skeletons in armor trying to hold a hand of cards. He noticed that this match was between a new opponent, Death, and the Armor Lord. Richter already knew that Death was winning. He knew that Death had probably seen so many poker matches that he would know all of the tells. Richter mentally noted to never play Death in a game of cards. He classified it as one of the perks of being Death: One would basically know how to play, and operate, every sport and device known to man and monster. Richter knew that he was atrocious at poker. He, of course, knew how to play, but he had never been the best at bluffing. Richter was taught how to fight and predict enemy moves, not bluff and predict enemy hands. Then again, Richter assumed they were quite similar.

One of the Spear Guards noticed Richter's approach and walked up, marching in their tradition fashion; his missing spear became obvious to Richter. The Vampire Hunter was still a fair distance away from the game, for he didn't want to disturb them. That just meant that the Spear Guard had to march for longer than he should have. Richter had to stop himself from laughing. The absurdity of the situation finally struck him as he waited for the Guard to reach him. Once the Spear Guard got in arms reach, he reached out his hand followed by an echo from inside the suit. Richter assumed it was a voice, even if that was a leap in logic. Richter was ashamed to admit that it took him longer than it should have to finally decipher what the Guard was saying.

"Greetings Richter! How was your meeting with the Librarian? We would've greeted you at the door but we were busy playing poker."

The Spear Guard indicated to the table.

"So, any plans sir? You have that look in your eyes. You know, the one that usually resolves a situation with Holy Fire and etc."

That was a first to Richter. They could see specific details through their helmets.

"Yes, actually. I assume you know of the world the altar now resides in?"

"Yes sir, I do. It's a lovely place, to be honest."

"Indeed it is. So, I was thinking that instead of just sitting here and doing nothing for the next one hundred years or so, we should actually start some form of construction. Gives us something to do, you know."

The Spear Guard nodded his head, causing his visor to rattle. There was one thing that ALL of the castle inhabitants knew about the Belmonts: They hated wasting time, and in a way, being bored.

"We don't mind it here, but it would be nice to see other parts of the world...You know, including this new one."

"Here comes the planning. The only way to get you guys on that world is to build some sort of housing system. The only system we can really construct that you guys have connections to is either another fucking castle or a village. We can't just summon a castle on the surface and cause everyone there to panic. Global hysteria is not what I'm looking for. There is no way I would allow that, even with Dracula gone. Just being in this place is enough to unnerve me and I'm ME! With the humans in this world dealing with the abrupt arrival of this world's monsters, suddenly adding another group would just cause the global hysteria I was talking about prior. So, I was thinking; I know I can't get us back to our old world."

The Spear Guard nodded again. It was a well known fact that there was no way for the altar to be taken back to their own world.

"So I need to build a house for myself. I'm not sleeping in this castle and I don't plan on leeching off of the inhabitants on the surface. Considering that I'm trying to distance us from our old life as much as possible, I plan on getting all of you out of this blasted castle. So, I planned an excavation mission. Underneath my house would be a giant cave large enough to hold a new castle or a very large village. With the castle or village there, we could slowly introduce you guys to both populations. You know, get you out of the 'house', per say."

The Spear Guard stood motionless as he was thinking. In truth, he didn't know if he should run screaming or stand at attention. It sounded like a good idea, but it would be something so foreign to them.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea."

"There is a problem, however."

Both the Vampire Hunter and the Spear Guard spoke at once. They both stared at each other for second, and Richter began to chuckle.

"Yes, there is a problem. To excavate a cave that large by myself would take more than a year. That's if I don't get injured or exhaust myself beyond my normal levels."

"So you would need help with the task, right Sir?"

"Yes. I was going to hold a meeting in the Grand Hallway to see if there would be any volunteers for the project. I don't want to force anyone to do this. I don't want any bad rep when starting something such as this."

"That's your plan?"

The Spear Guard was shocked and he knew that his tone and stance showed it. Richter wished he could see the Guard's face, but he knew that wasn't really a possibility. One, he was a skeleton and two, he was wearing a helmet.

"What were you expecting?"

"I don't know. I just didn't expect you to dedicate so much effort towards us. I mean, we've been fighting for so long."

Richter waved the comment aside. Richter knew that it was indeed a sudden change, but he assumed that he might as well get things over with. He thought that it would give him more time to get used to the castle's creatures.

"No point on dwelling on the past. I need to head to the Grand Hallway."

Richter gave the Spear Guard's shoulder plate a friendly punch and headed out. The Guard bowed and headed back to the table. As Richter walked to the door, he realized something so comforting that it gave him more hope for this project than ever before. The Guard didn't recoil when Richter had knocked on his shoulder plate. It appeared to Richter that the monsters of the castle shared his sentiments. As Richter passed the poker table, he noticed that everyone seemed to be in a good mood. Death wasn't there though. He assumed that was the reason why, although he still found it to be a bit odd. He could have sworn he was playing Poker earlier. He walked back towards the entrance of the Grand Library in a better mood as well. Richter found it comforting that everything was going well for once. Arriving at the door, he prepare himself to dash out. He swung the door open and readied his dash, just to encounter a very stern Death. Well, as stern as a skull could get.

The Vampire Hunter stepped back from his position and eyed Death. Death, seeing the mood Richter was in, decided to not delay what he was going to say. However, Richter spoke first.

"Greetings Death. How did the poker match go?"

"..."

"Uhhh, something wrong?"

"..."

They both knew that there situation was getting them nowhere. Out of all the bosses leading to Dracula, Death talked the most. However, he now seemed keen to keep quiet. Richter grew impatient with the silence and continued.

"Ok, what's wrong? We aren't going to get anywhere by just standing here."

Death nodded and summoned his scythe. Slightly alarmed, Richter took a step back. However, he knew that Death would've swung if he had the intention to kill Richter.

"Is there a reason you have your scythe out? I mean, I have no problem with carrying weapons around. There are exceptions, however. These circumstances seem different, so I hope you can see why this alarms me. That and you seem to have a nasty habit of swinging that thing around."

"..."

They both just stood there until Death finally decided to speak.

"Yes, I can see why. We just need to settle something."

Richter thought he detected something similar to smugness when Death spoke of his 'habit'. Richter decided to press into the subject before any more time was wasted.

"Ok then, begin explaining what you mean by that."

All Death did was embed the scythe's end into the ground. Richter took another step back after that.

"I want to make something clear. I know that we have had our...issues...in the past. You probably already know that I was one of the few beings not under control by Dracula. What I did back then, I did with my own free will."

"Go on."

Despite Richter's outward curiosity, Richter already knew where this was going.

"However, my reasoning behind it was my job. As Death, there are things one has to do daily. After doing that job for so long, one gets tired of it. When Dracula proposed a way to make my job easier, I had to accept. What that basically meant was that he wanted to kill all of the humans faster. I held no grudge against the Belmonts; nor do I hold any grudges against you. Sure, you can be a right pain in my ass to kill, but still."

Richter just nodded, somewhat surprised with Death's bluntness.

"The concept of Death works differently here; a way that doesn't require a Death, if you know what I mean. I don't have to go and collect souls anymore. This means I don't have a job anymore. Now with more free time than I had had in my entire period of existence, I decided to resolve a few problems. That problem being our working relationship, per say."

"So you came here to bury the hatchet...Literally."

"Human phrases sure are strange. However, put that way, yes."

"Well that's that then."

Neither of them knew how to respond here. Richter was still surprised by Death's bluntness and Death was shocked by Richter's acceptance. Richter decided to spare Death of any further apologies.

"I need to head off to the Grand Hallway. Got things to do, work to complete; you know the deal."

"The Volunteer meeting?"

"Yes."

And with that, Death stepped aside and Richter went through the door. Richter found that the confrontation they just had went better than expected. Richter thought that if everything went that smoothly, he wouldn't have to worry about further conflicts. Too bad a Belmont's luck was as shoddy as a rusted blade. Richter headed towards the Grand Hallway. He found it to be quite a walk considering where he started. It seemed to Richter that it took him twice as long to get to the Library from the Grand Hallway. He saw no need to dash now; he needed to think of things to say for the speech. After what seemed to be twenty minutes, Richter had arrived at the Hall. Other than a few Undead Hounds, the place was empty. The Vampire Hunter began his search for a platform that could support his weight. Not that Richter was a heavy man, not even slightly. Richter was probably one of the lightest Belmonts. However, that meant that he had the least health. So, to make up for his lacking hp, he pushed himself to be the fastest and the most magically connected. It seemed to Richter that pushing himself was worth it, for he did end up the fastest and strongest, magically at least.

One of the biggest consistencies from all of the castle's were the Hall's platforms. In fact, it was common advice passed down the Belmont family that the platforms were always the same. With the castle changing every one hundred years, it was rare to find something to be the same. Even more so when it hadn't changed at all. Richter found it to be quite unusual, to the point where it was something he worried about constantly. Every time he came into that hall, he expected the Giant Undead Bull to come out of the floor. He stopped worrying about it once he found the corpse in the Coliseum. Then again, he found that nothing here truly stayed dead.

Richter, after what seemed to be an extended period of time, found a platform that was safe enough for him to stand on. This castle didn't seem to repair itself like the one he fought in did. He suddenly remembers all of the wall chicken and pork chops which he broke out of the walls. Yet, no matter how many times he broke the walls, the bricks always replaced themselves. It was known that the castle was completely magical, but he didn't expect that something so minute would be affected by the castle.

Once Richter had finally secured the platform, he decided to call in the Librarian. After all, the Vampire Hunter knew that if he was actually going to make a list of volunteers, he needed someone to write it. Sure, Richter could write, but his penmanship was atrocious. In the end, he had decided that the Librarian was the best candidate. After being pinged, the Librarian came in a few minutes later. Not surprisingly to Richter, he had two Spear Guards accompanying him. The Vampire Hunter knew that the Spear Guards were incredible soldiers, but they lacked in Health. Honestly, they were one of Richter's favorites down in the castle. They were one of the few beings who could deflect some of his sub-weapons. Thus, Richter could see why he would've chosen them to accompany the Librarian.

Once the Guards saw who had pinged the Librarian, they visibly relaxed. The Librarian walked under the platform Richter was on and asked,

"You called me?"

"Yes. Didn't want to force your presence here just in case you were doing something. Out of all of the creature and people here, I'm not really keen on pissing you off."

A small pause while Richter grabbed the Volunteer list.

"I was wondering if you could help me the volunteer hearing. Once the meeting is over, I planned on having the volunteers lining up at a desk. There, we would write down the Type and Number of the volunteers. Helps to have a list. You were the first candidate for this, for you know far more about the residents here than I do."

Richter's voice noticeably lowered with his next sentence.

"-and your writing is far more legible than mine."

The Librarian shook his head and chuckled, but still responded.

"That will change soon. However, I can perform this task. I'll just need the desk you promised."

"It's not if you can, it's if you want to and sure, I can get a desk."

"Yes, I'm willing to do this."

Richter nodded at the Librarian's response and summoned the Librarian's desk from the Library.

"Well, here is a desk. Might seem a bit familiar, but ignore that. I wouldn't be so lazy as to bring down your own desk, no sir."

The Librarian laughed. Richter realized that the he seemed to do this often.

"Might be hard without a chair, Richter."

The Vampire Hunter just sighed. Richter debated if he should just make a chair or summon the Librarian's. It wasn't as if it mattered to the Librarian, but Richter's pride was on the line. He didn't want to be seen as lazy. Thus, he decided to build one. Richter was a master of many things, and carpentry was one of them. It was a requirement of all Belmonts once they reached Adulthood. They were supposed to build their own house. By the time he had come to his thought's conclusion, the Librarian was already sitting down in his personal chair.

"Really? You could've just told me you were going to get your chair from the Library. I was willing to build one."

"You never asked. That, and we would be waiting around for a while"

"Well...Yea, I guess."

Richter sighed inwardly and began to look around. No new creatures had turned up. The Spear Guards, somehow another two had shown up, were talking about helmet spikes. Apparently, some of the Guards had a different kind of spike. They were mid-argument about which kind was better: An upward spike or a clover hooking down towards the mask. Richter found the argument to be too trivial for his tastes. Well, for now at least.

Walking towards the desk, the Librarian held his hand out for the papers. Richter obliged, of course.

"So Richter, are you ready to call them?"

"About as ready as you are to write the names and numbers of every single volunteer."

The Librarian had noticed the unusual shaking the Belmont's voice was doing.

"You don't need to be so nervous you know. It's not like everyone is going to jump you."

"Me worried? Hah, you're mistaken old man. It's just that the last time we were doing this, I had ordered the destruction of my village. Including-"

The Librarian cut Richter off.

"No need to bring that up. It will be fine. Trust an old man."

The Belmont knew that the Librarian had a point there. Thinking about Her wouldn't get him far. The emotional baggage surrounding Her would probably cripple Richter if he thought about it. Pushing those thoughts aside, Richter put up a mask of wittiness so his could forget his past for another few hours.

"How do I know you won't die of old age while I hold the meeting?"

"Hahhhhh...Not likely."

Ending the conversation with that, Richter told the group of Spear Guards that he was about to call the castle's residents and that they should prepare for a hoard.

Climbing up the stairs, Richter looked over the Great didn't build architecture like they used to, Richter thought. Brushing all thoughts out of his mind, he pinged every single creature and soul in the castle. From Toriel's description of a radio, Richter could best describe the process as that. Well, except the fact that they all were magically connected to Richter. Almost instantly, groups of different creatures started showing up. The Belmont found it to be an interesting sight to see so many monsters and spirits flood the Great Hall. While there, they started to converse with some of the different creatures from other sections of the castle. He could only guess that they didn't really roam. It took about an hour for all of the creatures to show up in the castle. When you live in a castle this big, you should expect long trips just to get anywhere so Richter thought.

Once everything has settled, the Vampire Hunter stood up from his chair and overlooked the crowd. Glancing over towards the Librarian, he saw the old man nod in his direction. Richter knew it was now or never.

"ATTENTION ALL MONSTERS, SPIRITS, SOULS, SKELETONS, BOSSES, ETC."

Every creature in the hall suddenly stopped talking and focused on the Vampire Hunter on the platform. Knowing that he didn't have to yell anymore pushed Richter to continue.

"Greetings! I hope all of you have been doing well since the altar's, uhhh, relocation. I hope it wasn't too jarring. I'll be honest here; I have absolutely NO clue as to what is happening. I'm glad to know that all of you are in the same boat as me. I don't exactly remember the last time I've done this. Well, done this under my free will, if you know what I mean. _Anyway_ , I assume all of you know of what's been happening lately? Well, with my arrival here and all that?"

Richter took their silence as a no.

"Well, I guess I'll have to explain. Since there isn't a way back to our original world, I've decided that we should do something instead of just sitting here twiddling our thumbs, or claws for some of you. You see, I really hate this castle. In fact, I'm quite keen on getting all of you out in the real world so you can leave this blasted thing. Eventually, I mean."

Richter was interrupted by someone shouting from the crowd. The monster had asked about the monster situation topside. As much as he hated stopping, the question the creature had asked was something he should discuss.

"Yes, this world is already dealing with their own monsters being reintroduced. That's why I said eventually. So, please wait until the end to ask questions. Anyway, back to the main topic here. I really don't want all of us to live in this castle until I die, so I plan or begin our excursion into the new world. This leads to my proposition. There is only way to house all of you, and you can probably already guess what it it. We would have to live in the physical world and not reside in some pocket dimension in an altar."

With his sentence ending, Richter indicated to the expansive walls of the Hall with his arms.

"The tamer version of this castle, or an equally large village. It really depends on public choice. Sure, I'm biased, but you aren't; hopefully I could slowly transfer all of you to said residential area. There, we could slowly be introduced into that world. I have high hopes that we will one day be able to traverse the streets freely without worrying about a village mob. After all, I won't be living forever. Got to do something with my life. We've got to take this slow though. We first need to deal with the main issue. See, a village or castle of this magnitude has to be underground so it won't cause the locals to flip their shit. Problem is, I can't excavate a cave that large by myself. It just isn't possible. Sure, I'm a Master Vampire Hunter, but that doesn't mean I'm invincible. Now, if I had help, the project could be done in about a year or so."

Murmurs rose from the hoard.

"However, I'm not going to force you to do this. We all have different wants and goals, and I don't want to deprive you of that. The point of human history is to learn from our awful, and generally ridiculous, mistakes. I'm not keen on forcing all of you to work for me. That would cause tension between us. That is if I didn't force your emotions. That would just be immoral. So, this is why I have a volunteer list-"

Richter indicated towards the Librarian's station.

"-to list the beings who are willing to help me with this project. Keep in mind this castle will always exist, as much as I hate it. I'm not going to force you to leave if this new one is built. Probably would piss off some magical being or something. I'm just offering the possibility to live, and eventually explore, this new world. I hope you consider this offer."

Not a single voice was heard through the hall, which Richter considered strange the sheer size of the crowd.

"If you want to volunteer, form a line at the desk over there. Finally, it was nice to talk to all of you without having to throw a few punches and/or axes. Even if this isn't successful, I will still hang around. A Belmont doesn't run from failure. Might as well as converse with all of you when I have the chance anyway. People can learn a lot just by talking to each other. That is all. Thanks for listening...OH YEAH! I almost forgot. Does anyone have any questions?"

Nothing. A shocked silence seemed to be the only vocal resident of the hall.

"Well, you may leave if you want. I won't hold you down or anything. I don't have enough arms for that."

And with his speech being completed, Richter sat down. The horde slowly shifted around as the silence was completely shattered. Everyone and everything began to talk and discuss with each other. Most of the beings in the hoard lined up. The rest bid each other farewell, and left the hall. The Librarian gave Richter a smug look, right before the first creature arrived at his desk; it being a Bomb Knight. Then it was Richter's turn to give him a smug look. The Belmont remembered a phrase, "What comes around goes around". Richter decided to head down the stairs in-case someone had to ask the man anything. Some of the creatures who had visited the desk came up and greeted Richter. It continued for a while. The occasional question popped up, and the Vampire hunter answered gracefully. However, a statement out of nowhere from a Blue Venus Weed had put Richter in quite the dilemma.

"You know, you've changed since we last had a meeting like this."

Richter shook his head, but eventually responded.

"Just to make this clear, but I was under Shaft's control at the time. In fact, almost every time we have met, it was under different circumstances. I don't think talking about all of the times I killed you would be desirable. Well, unless you like to die. If you do, go talk to Death. As well as that, the Shaft version of me was just a prick. So if we could just consider the Shaft version of me to NOT be the right me, everything should go without a hitch. It would also help if we don't reflect on the...fighting. Like I said, talk do Death if you like that stuff."

The Blood Venus looked shocked and immediately started to apologize. Richter interrupted her.

"It's fine if you didn't know. I didn't know that most of you were forced to do such evil deeds anyway. There are a lot of things we don't know about each other. It's to be expected. Just be a bit cautious next time."

"I guess so. Sorry anyway!"

With everyone cleared out, Richter took the opportunity to check with the Librarian to see the roster list.

"How is the list looking?"

"Well, roughly 3/4 of the monster residing in the castle volunteered. I told you this would happen, now didn't I?"

"Yes, yes you did. I'm glad it went well. Glad to know that grudges aren't common place here Anyway, I will have to have host a meeting for the volunteers tomorrow. We need to get started as soon as possible if we are going to get anywhere. No point sitting around doing nothing."

"Hold on. You are in no fit condition to do any excavating! You could barely walk up to my office earlier as it is. If that monster hadn't healed you, we wouldn't be having this meeting."

"You are just exaggerating my injuries. I'll be fine, trust me. Anyway, I can't stand to see myself stuck in a bed recovering. That would practically be hell for me. That and I somewhat want to see what it would be like to have them wander the town. You can't deny that it would be cool to see some Armor Knights walking around with both this world's monsters and humans."

"But Richter, your health is seriously low! I think being bored is worth your life! At least rest for several days, or until-"

"Fine then! One day is the longest I will be resting. I can heal quickly anyway. It will be fine."

The Librarian gave a frustrated sigh. The Librarian never knew that this Belmont in particular was so reckless.

"Is there any way I could convince you to do otherwise?"

"You wouldn't be asking me if you knew of another way.."

"Well, it's your loss. Literally. Heheheheheh"

After some more idle conversation, the Librarian got up.

"Hey, could you possibly port me to my chambers? As well as my furniture? I'm not as durable as I used to be."

"Sure, old man. Just don't die in transit."

Having decided to return to the forest may not have been the best plan the man had come up with. However, Richter knew that, if he wanted to get anything done, he needed to build his house of residence first. Just because it was a a complete downpour didn't mean Richter had to stop. The Belmont knew assumed that rule carried over to the hail currently attacking him. He didn't know why it would be hailing in the middle of what seemed to be the middle of summer. Richter sought first the collection wood and misc. materials for the project. However, As Richter was cutting down a tree, he managed to clip his shoulder on one of the trees branches when it fell. Richter thought he went down faster than the tree. Somehow, Richter was still conscious. He knew that being pelted by hail didn't really help his condition. Maybe the Librarian had a point. In the back of his head, he was doubting his assumptions that he was practically invincible. Trying to get up, Richter realized that his shoulder was screwed. Yeah, he knew that the Librarian was right. Richter had managed to assess the damage from getting up. From what he could tell, he had dislocated his shoulder and seriously cut up his forearm. Whatever the damage was, he couldn't move it without feeling like he was bitten by a Warg. A Fire Warg would be pushing it, but still his comparison remained apt to him. He had managed to pull all of the logs, slowly, under a dense patch of trees so the wood wouldn't get completely soaked. After he finished this, the Belmont really noticed how low his health was. Looking up and summoning his status bar, he saw that only a tenth remained, and it was draining. Quickly running down the list of places he could stay at, he was left with only one viable option. Richter couldn't spare the energy to enter the altar, so all that was left was Toriel's house.

The journey wasn't pleasant for the Vampire Hunter. He thought that he might as well be the Bone Musket's targets, but replace the rounds with hail. When he had finally arrived at her house, he practically collapsed. Richter noticed that there was a car up front. Strange considering that he had never seen a car when he was last there. Maybe one of Toriel's friends came to visit. Just another person to explain stuff to, he guessed. Richter had managed to knock on the door, so that was good. However, the person who answered the door was someone he had only seen from photos. It was Asgore; Richter assumed he was Toriel's husband due to the species. The Belmont didn't know much about Monster Marriages. He looked incredibly worried about the man's condition and also wary that a human came knocking on their door during the hail storm. Richter knew that the monster had a good reason to be wary. The way Toriel described some of the human's treatment towards the monsters sounded terrible. Richter barely uttered,

"Hey...Mind if I talk to Toriel for a second?"

He just nodded and ushered the practically frozen human inside. Apparently the mention of her name meant the Belmont was trustworthy. It gave something for Richter to think about.. The monsters of the new world were incredibly trusting. Too much so. So many things Richter didn't understand about the new society. However, all he could do was follow Asgore as he led Richter to a chair near their unusual fireplace. The human thanked Asgore but denied the chair, rather sitting on the floor next to the fireplace. Richter wasn't unfamiliar to fire magic, and he saw the fireplace as a good example. The Belmont had somehow learned how to advance his usage of fire magic after watching Dracula's move-set. Richter could have warmed himself if he had the energy to do so. He thought he heard Asgore talking to Toriel about something, but was in no condition to listen. The Belmont just sat there and waited. Normally, this would be the time he would reflect on his life. However, he stopped caring after killing Dracula.

Toriel walked in with a glare Richter hadn't seen produced by anyone other than his mother. It was that kind of glare that said, "You didn't heed my advice and now I have to deal with the consequences". When she first walked in, Richter just attempted to shrug. That led to his shoulder screaming in pain and Richter falling onto his side...The side that sported the injured arm. He just rolled onto his stomach, writhing in pain. She just sat down and asked,

"What brings you here now? I can't just be a hospital, you know!"

Richter could give her the complete story later. For now, he needed to simplify it. His voice muffled by the carpet, he spoke.

"I couldn't go back home. Talked a lot. Decided to work on gathering materials for a house, but the rain, reality-bending hail, and being clipped by one of the trees forced me to take shelter. It's been a long day since I left your house. Hell, it's been a long "day" since I killed Dracula."

She slightly turned her head in a questioning gesture.

"Would love to explain, but I think I would talk myself to my grave. I don't plan on dying yet. Well, I guess I am now. Heh."

She reached out to push Richter over, just to be deflected by Richter's good arm.

"Oh no you don't. Being found dying once is enough for my pride. I just need a place to rest until this storm is over. This spot on the carpet is nice. I hope you don't mind the blood though. I'll wash it later."

"OH NO YOU DON'T! I won't have you bleeding on my carpet, young man! Since you are in my household, I am allowed to help you. I swear, did you possibly launch yourself into several holes? You look dreadful."

Richter sympathized with her about the carpet. Richter knew that cleaning blood out of a carpet was a pain in the ass to deal with. Well, he assumed carpet was like fur. He had only just recently heard of carpet.

"I mean, you don't have to accept this. You could send me back out if you want. I'm fine with that. Although I don't think they have nice carpet out there."

"No. I'm not having some reckless man dying in my yard. You WILL stay here until you recover and there is nothing you can do to stop it, magic or not."

Richter knew he could do something if he really wanted to. However, the carpet was truly comforting. Sarcastically, Richter said,

"Yes, madam."

Toriel nodded with that response and pushed Richter on his good side.

"Then my first order is that you let me bandage your arm"

"I'm pretty sure the carpet has already done that."

Glare time again. Throwing his working hand above his head, he said,

"Ok then. I submit."

"Good. Stay here while I get some bandages. Don't you dare leave."

"I think you underestimate my condition, lady.

Toriel just shrugged at his response and left. Asgore soon entered with a face adorned with the ever popular confusion.

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but who are you? Toriel never said anything about a human visiting her today. What was that about being found dying?"

Richter inwardly groaned and slowly got up. Keyword being slowly.

"Well, how much time do you have?"

"As much time as you've got here."

Well, he couldn't argue with that. He did own the house after all.

"Fair point. Well, I will give you a very brief summary. I don't mean to cut you short of the story, but I've had probably the worst week in my life. No, make it year."

By this point, Toriel re-entered the room and was sorting some medical supplies. Taking advantage of her being in here, Richter said,

"You know, you aren't the first person who I explained this to. I believe you would be the fourth. Somewhere around there."

"Who would be the others?"

"Uhh, Toriel, Asriel, and Frisk."

"So basically everyone living in this house but me."

Asgore looked towards Toriel. She just gave him an apologetic look. They clearly had much to discuss later and Toriel knew it.

"Might as well get started. My name is Richter Belmont, a Legendary Vampire Hunter. I- Prepare yourself for this- came from another version and time of this world. A version with different kinds of monsters. These monsters were under control by vile spirits and creatures. Most notably was Dracula, the Vampire Lord. Every 100 years, the forces of good and evil would become unbalanced, and he would return. This required someone to invade his castle, destroy his minions, and kill him. That's what we Belmonts did. However, my first venture ended horribly. Yes, I killed Dracula for good, at the time, and I managed to rescue everyone who was captured. However, I was soon possessed by a spell from Shaft, Dracula's Mage. Some stuff happened, and I had to retake the castle two more times in a week. With that, I killed Shaft again. However, he accidentally sent me here. I was found in the forest by Asriel and Frisk, and I was carted here. Toriel managed to heal me enough to be conscious. I then left the house to find a way to get back. I found no way to do so, and I was wounded enough to crawl my way back here."

Asgore looked like he had been slapped: Completely shocked and totally silent. Toriel took the opportunity to help Richter up.

"Richter, come with me. We need to move you. I can't have you ruining the carpet even further."

With no objections, he accepted her help. They moved to a guest bedroom, one Richter never noticed the last time he was here. No one was in, so they began. The Belmont being awake helped the procedure immensely. They had to redress the wounds from earlier and pop his shoulder back into its rightful socket. Pain was abundant, but he had to deal with it. Again, a comparison to a Warg's bite might be fit. They finished earlier than Richter expected.

"So-

Said Toriel, who was cleaning up the barely copious amount of bandages.

"You will be staying in this bed for the next couple of days. The last time you left, you nearly got yourself killed."

"I had a good reason to leave. In fact, I might have to leave tomorrow. I just can't have the meeti-"

Richter stopped himself. He didn't want to explain the whole altar situation until he could stand and not fall. Richter didn't want to explain everything that had happened on a day to day basis. She raised one of her eyebrows and gave Richter a questioning look. She was honestly confused on why Richter had stopped himself mid-sentence.

"Meeting? What meeting? As well as that, why can't you hold said meeting here? Surely you couldn't have encountered more people than this house can fit in several hours."

"Well, there goes that. How about I make a deal with you. I won't die on in your house if you allow me to postpone the explanations until tomorrow."

"That sounds fair, I think."

She gave a motherly humph sound and continued instructing Richter on what he had to do and what others will be doing for the rest of the day and into tomorrow.

Apparently, Toriel was a teacher. Richter had no idea, but it made sense now. She also had said that different monsters would come by this house daily. That also made sense to Richter; Toriel seems to be quite social. Toriel assumed that the Belmont's condition was critical to the point that he couldn't work on anything. Needless to say, Richter was slightly ashamed that he couldn't disagree. He wanted to think that he's been in worse situations, but he could only count those events with one hand. He was practically bedridden after the adrenaline wore off. Richter found it amusing that even with him being twenty three years old, she treated him like he was seven. Oh well. Her specific instructions about getting well were,

"Stay in bed and rest. I'll provide food while I'm here. There's school though, so if you become hungry during school hours, you will have to make your own food. Also, don't do anything harmful to yourself. Please, Richter. That means no more close encounters with the wall."

Richter knew that he was incredibly lucky to have survived this much and to stumble across such a loving and caring 'family'. Yet, in the back of his mind, he missed his sister and his true home.

There he slipped into unconsciousness.


	4. Chapter 3: Rapid Recovery

Richter was woken by a high-pitched bell of some sort. He placed the damned thing's location to be upstairs. Whatever it was, Richter had this innate urge to find it and destroy it. The noise it produced was horrifically loud, to say the least. It was finally muffled by the sound of, from Richter's experience, a stampede of Wargs. Stumbling and several falls were all Richter heard from upstairs. Richter was going to tumble out of bed, but the fleet of bandages reminded him that he was basically stuck in the Guest Room. However, Richter was surely determined to move. It just took him a very long time to do so. He had managed to shamble his way over to a chair in the room; its' location near the window prime for thinking.

Opening the shades, Richter saw that it was still dark outside. He couldn't help but wonder why anyone would be producing such a racket at an early hour. Haven't they heard of a good rest? Richter's training used to be early in the morning, but not the degree that it was dark outside.

After a while, the noise seemed to move downstairs. Richter hoped things would become quieter from there, allowing him to think and rest. However, the other noises were heading in his direction. At that moment, Richter knew that his morning was over. He had to stop himself from preparing a Boomerang Cross or two. He couldn't believe that he had to remind himself that he was in someone else's house and that everyone wasn't trying to jump him. It could be one of the house visitors. He was absolutely sure it wasn't the kids. Richter assumed that they, out of all people, would value sleep.

Then, the door to the room slammed open, and in ran the two children. Richter REALLY hated being wrong. The Belmont knew that the only reason why the kids would be up at this time is if they wanted to ask another hundred questions. He knew he was right, for they decided to basically crowd him. Probably excited for some reason; the reason remaining unknown to the Vampire Hunter. They were interrupting each other and rambling at the same time. He didn't think they said a coherent sentence.

"Hey Richter-"

"Toriel told us not to-"

"but we really wanted to see-"

This continued for a while. Richter just sighed, rubbing his temples with his hands. After a minute or two, they finished up.

"So yea."

Richter could only thank god that they had reached some sort of conclusion. He didn't know how to respond to an invasion of children in the morning. Was there a true solution? No one truly knows. However, Richter thought that he handled it rather well.

"Huh?"

Smooth. Really smooth. Smoother than than a Boomerang Skeleton's skull.

"Guys. I don't mean to sound rude, but could you talk slightly quieter and somewhat slower? I was just woken up by a demon bell; a slumber that I honestly needed. So, what were you saying?"

The kids seemed unfazed. Frisk started first, of course. Asriel jumped in after Frisk.

"Well, Mom said that you came here during the storm and you were sleeping in the guest room."

"But she told us that we shouldn't disturb you."

"So we woke up early to decide on what we should do."

"And we decided on visiting you. You don't seem too hurt to talk to us."

"Are you?"

They seemed honestly worried. Richter couldn't get past how strange the people in the house were.

"I'll be fine. I just injured my shoulder outside and it was hailing. This was the only place I thought I could go to for shelter."

Asriel seemed to remember something and didn't hesitate to ask whatever he was thinking about.

"So that means that you can't go home? You said that you were going back to the stone thing to go home. If you found out how to go home, you wouldn't be here."

The Belmont was impressed that the kid had remembered what he had said yesterday. He had to give the kid some credit.

"Yea, I'm stuck here. This place isn't that bad though. I just miss home."

Toriel came in right after their exchange. She was surprised to see her children crowding Richter.

"My children, what are you doing in Richter's room this early? School doesn't start for another hour. He needs rest."

"Toriel, it's fine. In fact-"

Richter looked up and checked his health. A remainder of half was present. That was good for him. He was healing faster than he had expected. The Belmont usually healed a quarter a night. Everyone just gave Richter strange looks. He guessed it was a bit strange to look at Status Bar that wasn't there for others.

"Yea, I've healed at a surprising pace. Another night and I will be fit for working."

Toriel just nodded. She internally doubted Richter's judgement, but she didn't want to argue so early in the morning.

"Hopefully. We don't want you injured forever."

The kids, although looking dejected, left the room. Toriel hesitated, however.

"Richter, are you sure you are ok? You look terrible. From how it looks, we will need to replace those bandages."

"I'll be fine, trust me. I know some people who can help me if things get really serious. I've done this more times than you have breathed. Yesterday was an exception. I don't normally introduce myself by throwing my bloody corpse on their doorstep. I usually greet them first, then I lay on their doorstep. There is a specific order here."

He couldn't help but chuckle at the accidental reference towards Maria. When Richter first rescued her from the castle, he wasn't in the best shape. The Mermen guarding her room were incredibly hostile. As well as that, it was his first time actually fighting them. He had no idea they could spout fire. Why would he ever assume that a water monster would use a fire based attack? The answer is he wouldn't. Maria thought Richter was a "poor soul who wasn't capable of his job". A lot of sass coming from a young-ling. Her opinion changed dramatically when he basically escorted her through the depths of the castle, wiping through more bosses than she had ever seen. Richter knew Maria was a competent fighter herself, but she had no idea on how powerful Richter really was. To be honest, Richter is glad that she had some knowledge of his power. However, he was also glad that she didn't know too much. The Belmonts were a bit...prideful when it came to their abilities. For Richter, it was the only skill people payed attention to.

Toriel didn't get the reference. He was glad that she didn't. Incoming sass, from what her face said.

"Oh really? I've breathed many times."

"And I've done this many times as well. Might as well count now! HEY! STOP CHEATING!"

"Me? How am I cheating?"

"You are breathing when we are trying to count. Thus, that's cheating."

A lighthearted glaring competition began between the two. She obviously won. Richter wasn't as skilled at pseudo-glaring as Toriel was. Probably because she had more actual experience glaring than he did. From where Richter came from, glaring got them no where. They would usually attacked each other before they had time to give a stern look. As well as that, most of his past enemies wore helmets.

Knowing that he was about to lose, Richter began to mock-surrender.

"I can't buckle your facial defenses! It's impossible!"

Toriel began to laugh.

"You can't beat a mother at her own game."

She began to walk out of the room.

"Well, I will leave you be."

True to her word, she left. No one came into the room for the rest of the morning, not even the kids. Toriel probably told them not to. Once Richter had heard the house become quiet, he began to plan the excavation mission. He knew that the space itself needed to be massive, considering how large and extensive the the village and/or castle would be. Thankfully, Richter had held onto the large list of volunteers. For ultimate efficiency, he decided to cut the list into sections. For each main area of the castle to be rebuilt into either a village area or just a direct translation of the castle, there would be a section leader. This allowed him to have meetings without worrying about space. However, he still had to select section leaders. The selection for these parts wasn't going to be easy. To select bosses as section leaders might be useful. However, certain bosses aren't really fit for the job. Richter knew that the Hippogryph a prime example of the bosses that wouldn't work, for obvious reasons.

In the end, he had to make a list of the kinds of creatures that would be useful as Section Leaders. Most of them, if not all of them, were veterans and were incredibly resilient. As well as that, they all had some form of leadership skills. The fact that most of the other creatures respect these beings helped Richter immensely. It was somewhat amusing to the Belmont that most of them wore armor. He guessed that it was a common theme.

By the time he had finished the possible list, it was nearly noon. No one had arrived at the house yet, so he assumed he should be able to talk to the Librarian. Him and Death, of course. Just from his past encounters, including the Library meeting, he seemed to be a respectable man. Well, at least to Richter. He had only just met the sod. Strangely, an inkling of loneliness burrowed into Richter's soul. It was only now that he realized that it's been there ever since he first arrived. Trying not to get too depressed, he shifted his thoughts onto the project. After all, it was normal for a Belmont to bury their emotions until the job was done. Richter just hoped that this job would last a lifetime.

Redressing his bandages, he thought of how to resolve where he would be holding his meeting with the Librarian and Death. Several options were viable, but due to Richter being immobile, he wasn't really going outside the room. That only left him with one option: Hosting it in the Guest Room. If Toriel was here, Richter knew she would probably flip out over the appearance of two more strangers.

Richter pinged the Librarian and Death. They might be doing something, so he wanted to give them the option of waiting. He wasn't going anywhere anyway. His worries were well-placed for they took quite a while to arrive. Death arrived first, strangely. He didn't seemed to be fazed by his surroundings. Richter was relieved for it confirmed a suspicion of his; that they could watch Richter from the Altar.

Death, deciding not to sit down, asked, "You called, Richter?"

Nodding, the Vampire Hunter promptly responded, "Yes. All we need to do is wait for the Librarian, if he wants to show up. He hasn't said anything otherwise. Probably busy. Doing what, I don't know. What would a Librarian his age do?"

Death became silent. Richter hated silence with his entire soul. It signified the lack of answers, really. Then again, Death was usually silent. That was until he decided to throw off his robes and pull out his massive scythe. That's when he became talkative. Strange how the prospect of murder can get someone talking. The Librarian showed up soon after, looking confused.

"Something wrong Richter? We didn't expect to be called this early today." He indicated towards Death with his hand while talking.

"No, nothing is wrong. Unless you count progress as a problem. Then we would be doomed. Plans require dedication after all."

The Librarian suddenly realized that was going on. That much was shown by his face. Richter was quite glad that the Librarian caught on so quickly. The Librarian still asked his question anyway.

"The plans? Is this about the Excavation?"

I nodded again. Death gave the Librarian a strange look, one that showed that Death must have known about this prior. The Librarian just gave a shrug to answer Death's silent message.

"Well, if we are going to excavate a cave large enough for the entire castle, or a village of that size, before I and the Librarian die of age, we would need to have multiple sections being worked on at the same time. This would require section leaders."

Death and the Librarian nodded in agreement.

"So I've come up with a list of the possible candidates for section leaders. Considering how large the castle is, we would have to have many sections. This means that most of these people would, if they accepted the request, be working anyway. However, I was wondering if you had anything to add or remove from this list. I added some small notes for each creature to explain my choice."

The Librarian spoke up, "Seems like a good idea to have multiple leaders. This would also help some of the creatures get acquainted with some of the others who normally reside in areas most wouldn't dare to go. Thus, speeding up the process immensely."

Richter handed over the list with his notes haphazardly attached. They both sat there, reading to themselves. Occasionally, one would ask a question about Richter's penmanship.. They finished five to six minutes later. Death spoke first,

"Good list. Not sure on the Frozen Half, Salome, and Lossoth."

The Librarian gave a quiet 'hmm'.

"Yes, I don't think any of the Frozen Half's or Salome's would work. They are experienced, and the Frozen Half's have been trained by Galamoth, but they tend to work alone. Lossoth isn't fit for any form of excavation."

They seemed to be on the same track Richter was on. He hoped that they could provide some assistance on the organisation of such a project. After all, a Belmont wasn't normally up to tasks like the one that now confronts Richter.

Planning the meeting was the easy part; actually holding it was the hard part. The location was one of the larger problems. They had no idea where they were going to host it. Richter couldn't fit everyone in the Guest Room and he didn't think Toriel would want to find a giant mob of different creatures residing in her Living Room. The job would have been so much easier if he hadn't designated the date for today. Grabbing a piece of parchment, he wrote Toriel a note saying he was gone and hosting a meeting. Richter really did hate sitting around doing nothing. Hopefully Toriel doesn't mind...although she would probably glare at him again or something. Richter didn't want to be on the receiving end of her glare if it became serious.

After they had discussed who could be a valid section leader, Death and the Librarian left. Their destination was known to Richter, for it was the meeting place they had decided on. Richter knew he had to join them soon, so he slowly shambled his way towards the forest. The castle was the best place to hold the meeting without worrying about space. As he left, he laughed at the small cliff note he had added at the bottom of the paper.

"Sorry Toriel, but no one in your town can fit creatures like Galamoth".

Richter slowly wandered the Frozen Caverns, reflecting. Strangely, the Caverns haunted Richter more than any other location in the entire castle, even more so than the Castle Keep. Something about the rare echoing sounds and the common eerie silence caused memories to resurface in Richter's mind. Yet, it also brought up a large amount of satisfaction to the Belmont. He thought of back when he found Maria, the thrill of slowly storming the castle, saving Annette, and kicking Dracula's ass so hard that he died both spiritually and physically. However, his thoughts didn't stay positive forever. It was to be expected since the castle was the epitome of horror and pain. The negative memories slowly crept into his subconscious. Shaft slowly taking over his mind, his summoning of the castle, the destruction of the local villages by his hand, and the death of Her also by his hand. So many things he had caused and he blamed himself for despite knowing he shouldn't. He truly wasn't the cause, but he internally blamed himself for association.

Richter tried as hard as he could to push the haunting memories into the back of his mind, but they resisted; more determined than any monster to torment Richter. His vision spiraled out of control as he found himself in the Castle Keep, with Her kneeling in front of another him. Guardians surrounded the throne holding the bodies of the villagers. Richter knew that the past Richter was aware that Maria was missing from his search and was furious. Richter could only watch in horror as he saw himself walking down the throne's stairs towards Her. Richter wanted to scream, to lash out towards the horrific deed his past self was about to commit. Richter knew what was coming and he slowly slid down the wall and onto the floor. Face in his hands, all he could do was listen as he himself grabbed Her and embedded a knife into her heart. The soft gasp was the only noise that came from Her, wanting to remain brave until the end. At the thud of her body contacting the floor, Richter lost himself in the darkness.

She was wandering the caves to find someone to talk to. Not to really talk to, but to just hang out with. One would be surprised as to where some creatures were found. Ever since Richter had encouraged the monsters to wander the castle and talk, many have been appearing in random locations. It wasn't like she was lonely; something she told herself often. Honestly, she had never been down into the Frozen Caverns before. The cold made her uncomfortable for the same reason that a Frozen Shade wouldn't be in the Catacombs. Right as she was about to give up her endeavor. He heard what sounded like sobs. Back when Dracula controlled the castle, the cries of tortured souls were often heard. Dracula had a tendency to torment humans for his own amusement. However, she was sure that Richter wouldn't torture people. Richter seemed to be very caring. Well, the current version of Richter. She was there when Richter first took control of the castle, under Shaft's control. She only recently realized how much of a different man he was. The two versions were polar opposites. The Shaft version was ruthless, vile, and absolutely hated animals. Yet, Richter's version of the castle contained the most animals. It was strange to the Fire Warg. It was common knowledge that the castle's form was based off of the Master's desires and thoughts. That was the only reason why there was a church, despite Richter's claims that it was there to begin with. She got the feeling that he was hiding something.

The sobs from the tormented soul seemed only to pick up in frequency. She could identify that it was human of some sort due to its' lack of tinniness that usually accompanied the sounds of the Knight's voices. They were they closest sounding to humans in the castle. She couldn't think of many humans in the castle that openly displayed their emotions. It was also rare to find a monster in the castle who was emotional. Everything in the castle had some form of emotions. She wouldn't suspect Richter to be one for being emotional and the Librarian was too old for it. The Grave Keepers were usually silent, even when dying. The Archers didn't actually breathe and couldn't make any noises. The Witches would usually be in groups, so being alone in the Frozen Caverns was out of the question. That only left three options: A Frozen Half, the Hunting Girl, or a Doppelganger

The Fire Warg's urge to investigate finally overcame the cold as she headed deeper into the Caverns. It was truly freezing in her area, so she wanted to find what was wrong and leave almost immediately. Sure, she had fur, but it didn't help when one was next to a waterfall that consisted of a magical liquid that had the constant temperature of ice. Turning a corner, she found the source of the sound. It was in what looked to be a makeshift meeting room, formally the lair of Scylla. She was incredibly surprised to find that the terrible weeping was coming from...Richter? Yes, it looked to be Richter. She doubted that it was a doppelganger. No one had the guts to mimic Richter. Even when they did, it didn't last long. His form was strangely cursed. It worked almost like Soul Corruption; slowly eating away at the body while under his guise.

Richter was curled up in a ball, quivering and shaking next to an overturned table. His body was constantly racked with sobs. It was a pitiful sight to the Warg, but also alarming. She didn't understand why Richter, the Legendary Vampire Hunter, would be curled in the corner weeping. There were a few things the creatures of the castle thought they knew about Richter; one of them being that he rarely, if never, openly displayed his true emotions. The Warg was confused. However, she felt that the sorrow was real. She wanted to do something, to somehow find out what was plaguing the Belmont and destroy it so everything would return to normalcy. She took a step towards his form. No response from Richter. Another step resulting in the same reaction, or lack of. She could now hear Richter faintly mumbling something. Even with her sensitive hearing, she couldn't quite understand what he was saying due to the distance and the sobs. She continued taking slow steps towards Richter until she was about a sword-length away from him. She could finally hear what he was saying.

"Annette, I'm sorry. Oh god, I'm so sorry. I just wasn't strong enough."

The Fire Warg knew exactly what was wrong after hearing those words. She was surprised that she hadn't thought of that as the reason earlier. Every creature in the castle knew who Annette was: Richter's former love. Her kidnapping was one of the main reasons Richter stormed the castle the first time, other than it being his job. After Her rescue, Richter adopted Maria as his sister and planned on marrying Annette. They had lived together until Richter disappeared five years later, finally being possessed by Shaft. One of the first things the Possessed Richter demanded out of the creatures of the altar was to destroy the village Annette had lived in. However, Annette was captured and taken to Richter. He then, without mercy, killed her and sent out several search parties for his sister. The Fire Wargs were part of the operation due to their innate tracking skills. She was glad that she never encountered Maria during the search.

Another burst of loud sobs came from Richter, interrupting the Warg's thoughts. She felt as if every sob struck her like the blow of a hammer. She needed to do something to end his, and in extension, her, torment. A magical connection to the depressed man meant that the sorrow pierced her core as well as any of the creatures in the nearby area. Yet, she was trying her hardest to get over how unusual the situation was. Richter was known to be a rock, able to neglect any emotions to complete a task. Nothing could phase the Belmont with his supposed nerves of steel. However, the open display of emotional pain in front of the Warg said otherwise. She couldn't help but feel terrible for him. His one known weakness was something that could cripple him entirely. Annette's death was the chip in his his armor. No longer the stoic icon of holy justice, all he was now was an emotional mess on the floor. She needed to talk, to comfort him. However, due to her being a Warg, she couldn't really talk. She then remembered that due to her magical link to Richter, she could talk telepathically to him. All beings that are manifested in the altar can contact the Altar's master. Although Richter likes to deny it, he is still the master of the altar; no matter if he likes it or not.

"(Richter, what's wrong?)"

She got no response.

"(Richter, please; Tell me what's wrong. We've never seen you like this before. It's scaring me.)"

Richter barely moved his head, enough to see who was talking to him. She could see his eyes. She was both repulsed and saddened by his eyes. A mass of sorrow was visible deep within his eyes, a sign confirming his emotional status. Once Richter saw who was "talking", he immediately began to recover, pushing his emotions back into his soul. However, the sorrowful eyes remained.

"(I want to help. I know what the problem is, so let me help. You shouldn't be alone through this.)"

That got his complete attention. Now sitting against the wall, he just slowly shook his head. He didn't want anyone to know about how vulnerable he was. However, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't push the emotions far enough into his subconscious.

"I'm perfectly fine, thank you. In fact, I'll be leaving now."

She was not going to take that as an answer. Walking up beside Richter, she forced him down with her muzzle and laid down next to him . Richter obviously was attempting to seclude himself and she wouldn't allow him to go through with it. She faced him, her muzzle a dagger-length away from his face. Richter could feel her breath, feeling like he was outside a furnace.

"(I will keep you here until you talk to me about it.)"

Richter just sighed deeply. He didn't know how she could help him with his current predicament.

"It's fine. Thanks for offering though. Now I've really got to-"

He attempted to get up, only to be knocked down by her muzzle.

"(Told you. Talk to me or you won't leave.)"

Richter sighed again. However, he didn't seem to be as sad. She mentally noted that this kind of friendly resistance and banter cheered Richter up.

"You already know the problem, so no point talking abo-"

"(No. I want to hear it from you. Now, talk.)"

"But there really isn't a point for doi-"

"(Just talk.)"

"Fine then. I was just reflecting."

She nodded, signalling with her head for him to continue.

"Do I have to be specific?"

She just nodded slightly.

"Ok. This will be difficult...Well, I was reflecting on my past quests in this castle. You know, kicking Dracula's undead ass, saving Maria, killing Shaft at least two times; What happened to Her being the focal point."

He laughed in a self-deprecating manner.

"You know, it's not like a Belmont to become emotional. If my past lineage could see me now, I'm sure they would bow their heads in shame. "

She could detect his rising anger; it was directed towards himself.

"I'm honestly not a worthy of the Belmont name if I'm bawling my eyes out in the corner of some random fucking cave! We were always taught to push our emotions to the side to complete the job, no matter how hard it seemed. Too bad I can't remember the simplest of shit! ALL OF THAT FUCKING TRAINING FOR NOTHING!"

He suddenly slammed his hand down onto the ice which left a reasonable dent. The Fire Warg could feel his anger, both magically and emotionally. It was as noticeable as his scent.(Not that she would tell him that though)

"ME, A FUCKING BELMONT? HAH! I'M PRETTY SURE A BELMONT WOULDN'T RESURRECT DRACULA SO HE COULD FIGHT HIM AGAIN FOREVER! THAT WOULD GO AGAINST A BELMONT'S TEACHINGS. NOW LOOK AT WHAT I'VE DONE! I'M NOT A BELMONT ANYMORE. LOOK AT ME! DO I LOOK LIKE A BELMONT TO YOU? LOOK AT ME..."

"(It wasn't you, Richter. You know it to be true.)"

"YES, I'VE BEEN TOLD THAT EVER SINCE I WAS RELEASED FROM THAT FUCKING SPELL! I'VE JUST GIVEN UP TRYING TO BELIEVE THEM. IT'S AS IF I'VE ALREADY GIVEN UP BEING A BELMONT ENTIRELY! TO BE HONEST, I'M SURE I HAVE! THAT IS WHAT SADDENS ME! NOT THAT I HAD KILLED MY SOON-TO-BE WIFE OR BASICALLY DOOMED THE HUMAN RACE FOR A YEAR OR SO! Although THOSE are things I SHOULD be saddened by!"

He took in a deep and shaky breath. He managed to collect himself. His voice became much quieter.

"It's as if I've given up on my life entirely. You know, it's not the death of Annette or my resurrection of the castle that angers me. It was that I couldn't resist. They say that every generation of the Belmonts are more powerful than the last. I was always told that I was the strongest and most powerful Belmont yet. Constantly being praised for my powers. Yet, look at where that got me."

The situation was worse than the Fire Warg had suspected. Everyone knew that Richter blamed himself for Annette's death. However, she knew that nobody suspected Richter of doubting his own powers and lineage. As she had reminded herself earlier, a Belmont's pride was everything to them. If they ever began to doubt themselves, their own emotional status would be multiplied.

Richter began to tremble again, his breathing becoming hitched. She knew that she had to do something or he would sink back into the depressive state he was in earlier. Quickly thinking of how she would calm the younger Wargs, she got up and curled herself around the Belmont; her head pressing against his right side. Including her tail, she surrounded Richter completely. Without thinking, he leaned back onto the side of the Fire Warg. He could feel the immense warmth that came from the body of the Warg. It reminded him of a blanket: a giant, sentient and occasionally fiery blanket. He quietly chuckled at the image. He decided to slowly stroke her fur, starting with the top of her head and ending between her shoulders. They continued for several minutes, until Richter got up. He dusted himself off as he spoke.

"Thank you."

That wasn't what she expected. She lifted her head and stared, slightly tilted.

"Don't make me spell it out for you. I'm just surprised I managed to hide it for this long."

He began to laugh slightly nervously. The Fire Warg was just confused further.

"(Managed to hide what?)"

Richter basically blanched. His face quickly became flushed and he turned around, arms crossed. He was surprised that she didn't know already. He silently reminded himself that he might not want to tell her if she couldn't already pick out what he meant. He had to quickly think of something; a lie of some sort.

"What I meant was thank you for not assuming I was invincible. Most, if not everyone here, think I'm a god of some kind. You know, immune to emotions. I'm surprised that I had managed to keep my emotions hidden long enough for people to assume this. Makes my life easier in a way, but it makes it a pain in the ass to revert their minds afterwords."

"(Uhhh...yeah, sure. I definitely didn't think you were invincible.)"

After all, no one had really seen Richter being emotional before. They had only seen him fighting or controlling them while under the control of Shaft. Richter knew this as well, so he didn't get onto the Warg for her response.

"Hey? Can you do me a favor?"

"(Sure. What is it?)"

"Please, just don't tell anyone about this. I will bring it to their attention later. It will make my job so much easier if they learn about this AFTER they start working. Don't want them thinking about this beforehand."

"(You sure?)"

Richter sighed with frustration. The Fire Warg had seen Richter at his most vulnerable state and wasn't going to let the situation drop so easily.

"How about this: If you don't tell anyone and we don't bring this up again, I will disclose something that no one other than Maria knows."

That peaked her interest. She didn't know what else Richter could be hiding from the populous of the castle.

"(Oh, I see how it is. However, are you sure you don't want me telling some people? It would allow for more of them to understand and possibly help your situation.)"

"Good GOD that would be awful. I don't need people to assume I'm some emotional weakling. That would be worse than my current situation anyway. HOWEVER, do you agree?"

"(Yes, I do. If it helps you, I won't say anything about it. But, you have to tell me what you promised.)"

Richter could hear her excitement in her...voice? He didn't know what to classify a telepathic connection as.

"Ok then. Simple as this: These boots make me look taller."

The Fire Warg wasn't amused that she was so easily duped. Quickly snapping at him, he quickly left the room laughing. About a minute later, she heard his footsteps approach the room. He suddenly entered the room again, looking sheepish.

"Uhh, we are holding a meeting here with some of the head members of the castle. I forgot about that. I have to stay in here to finish the preparations so yea. It would be best if you left this part of the Frozen Caverns. Sorry."

That explained the tables and chairs to the Warg. She got up and walked past Richter towards the exit.

"(If there ever is something wrong, don't be afraid to ping me. You need all of the help you can get.)"

"Sure, I will."

Richter just nodded, internally debating if she should stay or not. He finally came to the conclusion that, while her presence would be comforting, it would just serve as a distraction. With her exit, Richter began to set up the rest of the chairs, reflecting on what just happened. He made a mental note to talk to her again. He was just glad she didn't know that he had a weakness for animals. They were strangely calming to the man. She probably wouldn't let that go if she found out. Ever.

Everything was set. Enough room for everyone in the Caverns, including Galamoth. The sheer amount of creatures that would be there was going to be difficult to handle. For example, the size of the creatures varied incredibly. Also choosing which individual of a certain kind to ping was also difficult. One of the interesting things about the castle was that almost all of the beings in the castle had duplicates. Only a few normal monsters and the bosses were the exception. That was to be expected anyway. Richter stretched out the castle map on the main table, as well as the requirements for the cave. On the side of the map was the list of the sections with the reservation for different leaders. The table was surrounded with chairs of different sizes, enough for all of the attending creatures. Galamoth and Scylla couldn't have seats, of course. Scylla would be in the water nearby, so that was fine. Richter hoped dearly that the meeting would go well. If not, well, all of his effort would be for nothing. Standing in his position at the table, he pinged the designated creatures.

Then the chaos began. Scylla already lived in this cave, so she was naturally here first. The Wolf Heads coming from her torso looked around excitedly. It reminded Richter of the Fire Warg he had encountered moments earlier. He had to clear his head of that moment so he could focus. Honestly, Richter wasn't fond of water creatures. Richter didn't know how to swim. The magic the Belmont had made it so he could breath underwater so he never had to worry about it. However, that didn't stop the nightmares of him drowning. Another weakness to hide in the vault of his mind. He turned his thoughts back towards Scylla. She was one of the only Water Creatures that he actually and genuinely liked. The lore behind her was incredibly interesting to the Belmont. He would love to get to know her once he had time. He just simply waved and continued to work on the map.

Next came the selected Grave Keeper. He just bowed and sat down, saying nothing. Richter found it strange that Dracula would have kept a few humans in his castle. Then again, the Librarian existed, so nothing made sense.

Then the selected Guardian arrived. Richter had forgotten how bulky and intimidating the beings were; he wouldn't allow himself to be affected, however. The Guardian sat down in his spot, also saying nothing. They were amazing fighters and protectors, but they rarely spoke.

Next were the three brothers: Gurkha, Hammer, and Blade. Unlike all of the previous people, they talked a lot. Greeting everyone else in the room, they then began to try to get the Grave Keeper to talk. They knew it was a fruitless effort, but that didn't make it any less amusing to see three giant suits of armor trying to get a small man to speak. Richter could barely hold his laughter. It wasn't everyday that he saw things like that.

The Cloaked Knight appeared soon after. No one payed any attention to him, not even the brothers. Everyone seemed strangely warry of the man. Richter's conversational attempts fell upon deaf ears, apparently. He just sat there, motionless. The only thing moving was his glowing sword, occasionally tilting in a direction for some unknown reason.

Up next was the Discus Lord. Another of Richter's favorites. He couldn't help it; he just found the Lord's choice of weapon unusual and respectable. Richter knew how hard it was to use an exotic weapon so effectively. He was like the Brothers in the way he greeted everyone. He wasn't as easily excitable as them, but he was still incredibly sociable. He soon joined them in their endeavor to get the Grave Keeper to speak. It didn't work.

The Medusa and the selected Sword Lord appeared next. The Medusa was naturally quiet, but she still attempted to join any conversations. Richter always wondered how she could see where she was going when she wore a bandage over her eyes. She ended up in a heated debate with the Gurkha about the treatment of snakes. The Sword Lord, although normally loud, said nothing as he sat next to the Cloaked Knight. The two greeted each other with a nod, but nothing else.

Azaghal, Galamoth, and the Hellfire Beast came next. They were already discussing leadership in the Underworld, so they didn't greet anyone. No one wanted to interrupt their debate. If one knows anything about those three, it is to not interrupt them. They were fearsome fighters and quite temperamental. Richter would probably have to remind them to not be so pissed during the meeting.

Karasuman was in the room since the first arrival, but was on the ceiling. Richter only noticed him after nearly falling over from tripping on a snake. After questioned, Karasuman's excuse was that he wanted to watch everyone arrive. Richter assumed otherwise.

Death and the Librarian were the last people to arrive. Richter waved them over as he continued to chart certain sections of the map. The Librarian spoke first.

"It's funny, to think that we came from killing each other to planning an excavation mission with creatures from all parts of the castle."

Death responded.

"Life can be quite fickle when it comes to alliances."

"Yes, that is true."

Richter indicated to the different job positions written on the map.

"We should have enough spaces for everyone. The difficult part is figuring out who goes where."

Death began to speak.

"That was the point of this meeting, yes? That means you have some ideas."

"Or I called the meeting so we could think of some ideas. I don't know everything."

Death only nodded. The Librarian filled the silence.

"Are we ready to begin?"

"Yes, I think we are. SEATS, PEOPLE!"

Everyone sat down in their respected chairs, except Galamoth. He couldn't really sit in a chair. He just stood their awkwardly. Richter just glanced apologetically at the creature.

"Greetings! If you remember, I had said something about having another meeting. Welcome to that meeting, obviously."

Richter sat down.

"If we are going to work on excavating a cavern large enough for the castle or village of its size, we need to cut the job into sections. There would be leaders of those sections, somewhat like a warden for a jail. The interesting thing about this project is that we will be building the castle or village while we create the cave. This will allow us to finish the castle faster while providing more support to the cavern's walls and ceiling."

The group seemed to be quiet from thought.

"All of you are worthy candidates for section leaders. Your experience and knowledge of the castle would help the project considerably. That's if you want to help."

Richter rotated the map so everyone at the table could read it.

"As you can see here, this castle has many sections. Fourteen, to be exact. Yet, we have sixteen people here. That will be dealt with once we get to it."

Hammer spoke.

"So you want us to lead the construction of certain parts of the village? So, we would be telling people what to do and such?"

"In summary, potentially. Section leaders will also be working alongside their workers."

"That sounds fun. What do you think, Blade?"

Blade responded.

"I can totally see us ordering people around."

Gurkah interrupted.

"Brothers, this job is more than just ordering people aro-"

Blade cut him off.

"Gurkah, don't ruin the fun! Let us enjoy this!"

Richter continued.

"So you've decided on building the village instead of the castle?"

Gurkah responded.

"Yeah, I assume so. We've been in this castle for so long. I think a change of scenery would do us good, yes?"

Everyone murmured in agreement

"Before we continue, is there anyone here who doesn't want to do this?"

No one objected. Blade and Gurkah went back to arguing. They seemed to pick up on the silence and directed their attention back to Richter.

"Ok then. What we need to do now is figure out who will be working where. We have the obvious, such as the Librarian working on the Village's Long Library and Scylla working on the Underground Caverns equivalent in the village. However, the rest are difficult choices. If any of you want to work on a certain section and have had experience there, feel free to volunteer yourself."

Death spoke.

"I could work on the Castle Keep's translation. Must I elaborate?"

"No, we all should know why you qualify for such an area. Anyone else?"

Up came the voices. Richter knew it was going to get interesting.

Only Richter and Death remained in the room. Everyone had left a few minutes prior. Finding that he could relax, Richter sunk into his chair.

"Finally, a period of relaxation. That went better than expected."

Death nodded in agreement.

"Richter, are you sure you can handle management of such a large task?"

"I'm sure I can handle this. We Belmonts never succeeded by giving in to the pressure. I've handled worse. You should know, Death. Anyway, I don't need to worry about doing this alone, for I have the castle's inhabitants. This helps lessen the workload."

"You may be right there, but try to remember that everyone has their limits. I have mine and you have yours. No one is invincible."

"That's about the fourth time I've been told that."

"Probably due to it being true. One of the first things people notice about you is your sheer determination. However, that determination will get you killed."

"It most likely will."

"Farewell, Richter."

"Indeed, Death."

Death vanished then, leaving Richter alone to tend to the map and papers. He had much planning to do, but such little time. The first thing he knew he had to do was return to Toriel's home. Rolling the map and papers up, he placed it in his satchel and headed out. He needed to get to the Courtyard so he could leave.

The trip went fairly well. It seemed that ever since Richter properly introduced himself, the atmosphere of the castle became much more up-beat. Richter saw more creatures exploring the castle and hanging out. Richter had to stop himself from joining some of their conversations. It was as if he hadn't been fighting these beings a few days ago. He then had to remind himself of the circumstances of those events. He could get used to this.

Exiting the Main Hall, he encountered the Fire Warg from earlier in the Courtyard. Richter wondered what she wanted.

"Oh, hello! You seem to be waiting for someone."

"(You would be correct.)"

"And that someone is probably me, yes?"

"(Again, you are correct.)"

"So, what is it that you want? I need to head back to Toriel's house before she explodes."

"(Well, I was wondering if I could accompany you on your trip back there.)"

Richter didn't expect that in the slightest. This Warg seemed to be totally invested in Richter's well-being. The Fire Warg tilted her head slightly in confusion at Richter's surprised look.

"I don't know if that would work. I don't think the Humans would react well to a giant wolf walking down the street with a bandaged man clad in blue. Might give them the wrong idea."

"(They will have to adjust to us anyway, so why not start now? You have already started the excavation mission, so I assume you like progress.)"

He didn't know what to say to this. He thought it would be cool to see some of the Castle's monsters roaming the surface, but he didn't want it to go wrong so early. He hasn't even been introduced to the surface community. Richter's own emotions should have no hold in his internal debate, yet, they got the better of him.

"You know what? Let's do it. The place isn't too far from the Altar. However, we will only do this under one condition."

"(And that would be?)"

"That you teleport home RIGHT after I arrive at Toriel's."

No delay in her response.

"(I can do that. So, are we going or not?)"

"Yes, we are leaving now. Let's get going."

Both walked towards the altar, ready to go to the normal world. Once they arrived in the surface, Richter realized something: He was royally screwed. It was near dusk when they appeared in the forest. Apparently, he had spent most of the day at the meeting. Toriel was going to somehow find a way to ground an adult, Richter thought. However, he couldn't do anything about it. He knew that the meeting was completely necessary for a multitude of reasons. As one of his favorite phrases went, "Can't kill a Vampire Lord without cracking a few skulls." Yet, Richter was pretty sure that Toriel wasn't a Vampire Lord. She didn't even seem remotely evil to the Belmont.

Their arrival in the forest didn't go as expected for him. He had expected that the Fire Warg would dash off into the forest and explore. However, she just stood next to him, unmoving. Richter was immediately suspicious. Rather cheekily, Richter asked,

"What, you don't want to explore? I'm pretty sure you haven't been up here before."

"(Uhh...I mean...Kinda...)"

Who knew that one could stutter telepathically. Richter turned towards her and gave a genuine glare. The Warg seemed to be troubled by this and instantly began to apologize.

"(Hey, come on! I wasn't the only one! We didn't go past the forest, I promise. Please don't get angry.)"

She emphasized her last statement by nudging Richter's cheek with her muzzle. He could hear her emit a small whine. Richter instantly cracked.

"Oh, alright. However, you WILL tell me the next time you are planning on heading out of the altar. What if several humans saw all of you and located the altar? What exactly would you guys do other than kill them?"

"(Oh, I know! We would...Uhmm.)"

"That's what I thought. Let's go."

Richter and the Fire Warg took a makeshift path that cut through the forest like an unwanted scar. Richter knew a few things about scars. Thinking about it, the forest itself struck Richter as odd. There was a strong magical presence in the forest and yet, no visible signs of magic were there. He assumed that cutting through time would do something to the world. He was just glad though that he hadn't practically doomed another world. The dirt path eventually led to an outcropping, which connected to a section of sidewalk. The Fire Warg began to become excited. She hadn't gone this far and she could smell thousands of foreign scents. Richter had to practically drag her along, a task that was hard considering that she was on the side of his injured arm.

The closer they got to the residential area, the more people stared. It first was only a few people, but soon a crowd had formed. Getting tired of being viewed as some sort of freak show, Richter turned towards the group. One look at his pissed face turned the group and they dispersed. After they left, the Fire Warg began "talking".

"(You were right about them being nervous. Wish there was a way to convince them that we aren't a threat to them.)"

"It just takes time. They just started to accept the monsters native to this world. You, and in a way I, are obviously different from them. I don't expect that they see giant wolves on a day-to-day basis."

She gave a soft chuckle, a strange sound coming from a Warg.

"(It would be strange if they did.)"

It was quiet up to Toriel's house. Richter really didn't like the quiet in situations such as the one they were in. The Fire Warg didn't mind the silence. Unlike Richter, she was used to crowded environments to the point that she liked the few quiet moments that were scattered throughout her life. They didn't say much to each other, for there wasn't anything to say. She obviously was still admiring this world, while Richter was trying to watch for any dangers. Richter remembered that Toriel had told him that the humans in this world had advanced versions of muskets. He really didn't want some random hunters to come by and shoot the Fire Warg.

He was relieved that nothing had happened as they approached the house. Richter turned towards the Fire Warg at the doorstep.

"Well, this is where our walk ends. You know what to do now."

Nodding, she pressed against Richter's shoulder with her giant muzzle. A rumbling echoed through her chest and into his shoulder as she 'spoke'.

"(Yeah, I get it. I'll see you later, hopefully. )"

With that, she disappeared. The warmth that normally surrounds Fire Wargs vanished with her. Alone, and slightly cold, Richter knocked on Toriel's door. There seemed to be lights coming from inside the house, so someone should be there. He knocked again. Nothing. Richter found it to be slightly strange that the lights in the house were on and yet no one was there. Richter decided to come back later and began to walk off. That's when he heard a voice. It didn't sound like Toriel's voice nor was it a voice that he had heard before. Richter found himself comparing it to one of the Guardians when it came to how deep it was.

"what's the password?"

Richter felt like he was missing out on something. Toriel didn't tell him about a password. Then again, Toriel had told him not to leave the house. Deciding that it would be better if he could figure it out on his own, he began to explain his presence here instead of answering the absurd question.

"I came by to apologize to Toriel for leaving so early. You see, I had some stuff that needed to be taken care of. Could you tell her I came by?"

"why don't you do that yourself? don't work me to the bone here."

The person behind the door laughed at something, but he didn't know what they were laughing at.

"Well, it's obvious that you are guarding the door, with entrance only being granted with a password. I, however, don't know this password. I'm not going to stand out here all night and wait until she leaves."

"why not take a guess?"

"Because I will most likely be wrong."

"doesn't hurt to try."

Richter found himself agreeing with the voice. Most of his teachings involved pure guessing and assumptions.

"Is this password based off of anything?"

"can't give hints, ruins the fun."

Richter began to think of possible passwords. He knew it couldn't be something from his world.

"hurry up, i'm getting bonley in here."

Giving up, he checked his surroundings for anything that could allude to what the password was. The Belmont was impressed with the landscaping and gardening of their yard. The sheer amount of variety when it came to the plants was astounding. Suddenly thinking of something, he guessed.

"Is the password Flower? Whip in the dark there."

The voice that came out of the door was shockingly serious to Richter, compared to its' tone before.

"you said flowey?"

"You must've misheard me. I said FLOWER. Don't want to get this guess even more wrong."

An audible sigh came from behind the door.

"sorry. i'm such a bonehead sometimes. well, you guessed incorrectly. but, i can't blame a skeleton for trying. come on in."

With that, the door opened. Richter was thinking about the person's strange reaction to him saying flower and the random puns about skeletons. The Belmont looked about, but found no one in the house. He found that worrying. He headed over to the table where he had placed the note. It was gone, so he knew someone must have seen it. Problem was that he didn't hear anyone in the house. Richter decided to try asking about the growing predicament.

"Hey, I was wondering if you could tell me where everyone is? Shouldn't they be home?"

Richter heard a few footsteps behind him, same location as the voice that began to talk.

"out to eat. don't you know how to greet a new friend? turn around and shake my hand."

Chuckling at how blunt the person was, the Vampire Hunter turned around. No one was there.

"down here."

Richter began to apologize as he looked down, only to stop abruptly. The person was a skeleton. Not the skeletons from the castle, but a wide and slightly chubby skeleton wearing the largest coat Richter's ever seen. A giant smile was plastered on his face, with two white pips representing eyes in his giant eye-sockets. Richter muttered to himself,

"Of course it was a skeleton."

That's when the skeleton references and jokes hit him. He began to laugh as he extended his hand.

"Sorry about that. I didn't expect you to be a skeleton of such a short stature. I'm used to the skeletons I've dealt with being a bit taller."

The skeleton stretched out his hand, saying nothing, and they shook. A loud fart sound suddenly echoed in the room. Needless to say, Richter was confused. The Belmont was wondering if that was how he normally greeted guests.

"hah. old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. classic. anyway, you know toriel? that's cool."

Richter was shocked by how casual the skeleton was after the shenanigans he had just pulled.

"Somewhat. We only met yesterday, under strange circumstances. I don't know why those situations keep on repeating."

Richter aimed the last part of his statement more towards himself as he sat down.

"Did Toriel read the note, by chance? The one I had on this table?"

The skeleton shrugged.

"i wasn't here then. she called me and asked if i could stay at the house while they were going out."

He quickly changed the subject, which Richter found strange. His voice was oddly serious, clashing with his giant smile.

"anyway, i'm sans, sans the skeleton. i'm close friends with their family. you are?"

"Oh, I'm Richter Belmont. I'm not so close friends with their family. Like I said, I just met them yesterday."

Richter checked his stopwatch to see that it was incredibly late. If he wanted to get anything done, he would have to start now.

"Sorry Sans, I have a lot to get done tonight. We can possibly talk tomorrow."

With nothing more to say, Richter headed off towards the room he was assigned earlier. Sans didn't do anything as he left. He was still trying to figure out why a heavily bandaged man was residing in Toriel's home.

Entering the room and shutting the door, Richter laid out the maps and papers on the floor. It was the only place that could fit the map. He needed to figure out when they should start and the order of sections. He knew they couldn't work on everything at once, so there had to be a sense of order, literally in a way. The groups would continue to work as the cave's size increased, allowing more groups to work. That was the plan, anyway.

A few hours in, Richter felt himself become drowsy. He realized that Toriel, Death, and seemingly half of the population had a point when they spoke of his condition. He didn't want to admit it though. He tried to stifle a yawn, but failed. He put his head down on the floor, thinking that if he closed his eyes for a second, he would be fine. Nothing's wrong for resting for a second.

The door to Richter's room slowly opened, with Toriel and Sans entering. Richter had fallen unconscious on the floor. Papers were scattered everywhere and a giant map was the centerpiece to the room. The map depicted a large castle with unreadable scribbles written in different areas. Toriel quietly whispered to Sans,

"When did he get here?"

"around twelve. for a guy who looks like he works around the clock, he has terrible timing."

Toriel muffled her mouth as a laugh escaped. She quickly became serious.

"What did he say when he got here? His note didn't explain much, nor does his current situation. He really shouldn't of left in the first place."

"said he came by to apologize about leaving and said he left due to some unfinished business. i'm going to take a shot in the dark here and say that these papers are part of the unfinished business."

Toriel glared at him.

"I could guess that. We should let him sleep. He does seem to be a busy person. Unhealthy so."

As they left, Sans brought up a question.

"how do you know that sleeper anyway? he seems quite strange."

Toriel shut the door, and turned to Sans.

"I'll explain once I get the children to bed. Would you get Asgore? I don't know where he went."

Sans gave a thumbs up and walked into the kitchen, where Asgore obviously wasn't.


	5. Chapter 4: Malformed Morning

Richter suddenly woke with a start. Quickly checking his surroundings, he realized that he was still at Toriel's house. He slowly calmed himself from whatever nightmare he must've been having. Sitting up, Richter admired the giant mess on the floor. This was the intended progress. It seems that he had managed to finish all of the sections in the order of time of work while sleeping. Richter silently applauded himself. In high spirits Richter checked his life bar: Full health. Even better. Picking up the papers and placing them in his satchel, the Belmont thought about how long the operation would take. If everything went well, it would only take a few months to dig out. He felt that having a crew of supernatural beings really helped speed up the process. Folding the map into a tube, he began to run down a mental checklist. He had the papers and the map, which he had placed in his satchel. However, looking in the mirror, he saw that something was missing.

He hadn't changed much since the the last time he saw himself. A small scar ran along his jaw and up behind his right ear. His hair was still uncomfortably long, stopping past his shoulders. He hadn't really understood why Shaft had forced him to grow out his hair. It got in his way more often than not. Not that Richter was able to resist at the time. Lowering his eyes down towards his chest, he saw that he wasn't wearing his tunic. A mess of bandages were the only coverage he had. Realizing that he hadn't been wearing a shirt for the past day or two, he slowly banged his head against the mirror. No wonder he was getting so many questions about his health; he looked like a fucking mummy.

He assumed that Toriel had his shirt. Adjusting the strap of the satchel, he left the room. He could hear people talking in the kitchen area. He had completely forgotten their schedule. Silently cursing himself, Richter approached the doorway to the kitchen. No one had noticed him yet. Toriel, Asgore, Sans, Frisk, and Asriel were all at the table. The Belmont didn't want to scare them so he knocked on the doorway before speaking.

"Good morning! Sorry for being absent yesterday afternoon. I was a bit busy."

Everyone, except Sans, jumped. Frisk had managed to flip a piece of bacon into the air, but managed to catch it with his mouth. The lights in Sans' eyes completely vanished for a split second, but quickly returned.

"Sorry for that as well, I guess. I should probably just make a list of things I should apologize for."

Frisk spoke first with a mouth full of bacon.

"Hi Richtmmm! Come joimm umm. Its amazing!"

He has emphasized his point by stuffing even more bacon into his mouth. He had tried to say something else, but it was completely incoherent. Having food in your mouth does that to a person.

Richter looked at the stopwatch, realizing that he had plenty of time. He never really knew why the stopwatch was actually a clock. Shrugging that thought off, he realized he hadn't had an actual breakfast in years, so he looked towards Toriel with plead across his face. She just nodded. Asriel offered Richter a chair, but he declined. There was something he had been wanting to try ever since he learned he could summon things from the castle.

"Mind if I try something? Might be amusing to watch."

Toriel responded in a fashion he expected her to do.

"Sure, just don't hurt yourself."

Richter just shook his head and chuckled. He hoped that it wouldn't hurt anyone. It wasn't like it was a bunch of spikes or something similar. Stepping back, Richter strained himself mentally to summon a chair from the castle. It arrived, but it had an unwanted attachment. A Spear Guard was sitting there holding some poker cards. He was talking as if he was mid-conversation.

"You sure you trust your cards? I mean, you hav-"

He slowly stopped, looking around. Everyone at the table was frozen; their gazes on the Spear Guard. Richter needed to do something before the situation could become even more embarrassing.

"Umm, sorry about that. I needed the chair, but I didn't know you were on it. Maybe I should've just got a chair from here."

The Spear Guard keeled over with laughter; the cards in his hand scattering across the floor. The best he had was a pair of twos. Richter guessed he was bluffing. He tried to speak, but it was cut up from his seemingly unstoppable amusement. The Belmont managed to pick out a few coherent words. Most of them were talking about how embarrassed Richter looked. Richter, growing tired of how long this was taking, cleared his throat. The Spear Guard managed to pick himself off of the floor and offered the Belmont the chair.

"I'll try to warn people to not sit in that chair, sir. Who knows where they would end up? HAH!."

After picking up the cards on the floor, he bowed to everyone else and vanished. That didn't go as smoothly as Richter wanted it to. He just stood there nervously, adjusting the white bandanna that was around his neck. He used to have it around his head when fighting, but that changed ever since that control spell from Shaft.

"Sorry about that. This is the first time that happened. I'm still getting used to summoning."

Silence for what seemed to be an hour, until Frisk shouted,

"THAT WAS AMAZING! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?"

Asriel joined him.

"That guy looked so cool as well. Are you friends with a bunch of knights, Richter? If so, I want to meet them."

Richter realized that he hadn't told anyone about the Altar situation. To make matters worse, every time he had spoken of the castle's creatures beforehand, it hadn't been under the best of light. That was going to difficult for Richter to explain correctly. He placed his satchel on the back of the chair and sat down. The kids were still babbling about with the adults saying nothing. All of them were still surprised by the sudden appearance of the Spear Guard. Turning to Toriel, the Belmont asked,

"So, there is food? I haven't eaten in a while."

That snapped her out of it and she asked,

"How long exactly?"

Richter had to stop and think about the question. He thought the last time he had eaten was when he first arrived at the Inverse Castle. He tried to figure out how long that was ago.

"A few days, why?"

She shook her head vigorously, ears flopping about, and she got up.

"No, no. We have to get some food in you this instant."

Sans snickered and popped into the conversation.

"I guess you could say that he is all skin and bones."

Toriel laughed as she got a plate of food ready. Of course the skeleton only made skeleton puns. Richter then noticed that the kids were still asking questions. Apparently, everyone had blocked them out, including himself. He couldn't help but not feel bad. If anything, Richter was somewhat glad. He didn't hold anything against the children, but it was still too early to be bombarded by questions.

"Do you have armor like that?"

"Can you teleport people?"

"Can you teleport me?"

Stopping them with his hand, Richter reminded himself that they were just curious kids and not verbal assassins. They could probably be payed to do so though.

"This is going to require another explanation, isn't it?"

Toriel just nodded her head. Richter swore under his breath. He hated how every time he tried to do something simple, he had to end up explaining half of his life story. He's running out of moments in his life to talk about. Then again, this was the most anyone had listened to the Belmont. Most of the humans in his old world were jealous of Richter's powers, so they often scorned and ignored the Belmont. He had to stop himself from laughing after he remembered how everyone had begged Richter to save them from the invading monsters once Dracula first arrived. A change of heart, they said. He did it, of course. He wasn't that evil.

His thoughts were interrupted by Toriel placing down a plate of food in front of the Belmont. He noticed that everyone was waiting for an answer. He began,

"I've already told you of my normal abilities, so no need to explain that. However, a lot has changed since the last time I talked about the creatures of the castle. Yes, it was my job to fight them; a job I did rather well. However, the circumstances led to misunderstandings. I always assumed that they were naturally evil. A few of them were, but most of them weren't. See, they are tied to the castle via the Altar. The Altar is this giant carved boulder of stone, with intricate details chiseled into it. The Altar is always controlled by someone. Dracula always had control over it, so that's why he could summon it again and again. He had command over the castle and the creatures that resided in it. Most of them wouldn't fight and kill willingly. They were forced to do his bidding. That was until I destroyed him completely. Then, the power unknowingly went to me. The reason Shaft controlled me was because I had control over the castle and its forces. He was defeated, and the power went back to me. Interesting, really. Well, I only found out about this when I left this place to figure out how to get home. Some stuff happened and everything was cleared up between the creatures and I. There's no way I'll ever directly command them. I know exactly how that feels and I'm not going to subjugate them to that. To explain what happened earlier is easy. I summoned a chair from the altar, but someone was sitting on it. Thus, both came along."

Sighing, Richter leaned back into his chair. He decided to try the food; an excellent decision on his part. Richter found it amazing. While admiring the delicious food, Asgore said something.

"So you have an army that you could force to do your bidding."

Richter's head quickly whipped towards Asgore. He couldn't help but feel that the large monster was insinuating something. However, Richter could understand his concerns.

"Honestly, yes. However, I will never treat them like an army. They are basically peaceful creatures so they deserve to be treated as such. Most of them are nice people once you get to know them."

"But you just found out yesterday."

Shaking his head, he pointed a finger lazily at his temple.

"Magical connection. It's as if I've been friends with these beings for my whole life. Magic is strange like that."

Asgore said nothing as a response. Sans, however, decided to take his place in the conversation.

"you know, your form of magic sounds quite strange."

"I still haven't figured out how it works. I only know how to use it. That reminds me; has anyone told you my story?"

"no, although tori said she would last night."

"Ok then. I might as well enlighten you. I've got time."

Richter spent the next few minutes giving Sans the briefest summary of his life. He didn't summon the items this time though. He didn't feel like it was really worth it. After finishing, Sans couldn't help but joke about bones.

"bad to the bone, dude."

At that moment, someone knocked on the door. Richter couldn't help but jump. Recovering quickly, the Belmont spoke.

"I'll get that! You guys just stay here. Least I can do for the food."

Opening the door, he found no one. However, a bunch of kids were running away. Richter couldn't help but wonder why. It seemed rather odd.

With that, he headed back and placed the dish near the sink.

"Sorry about that. No one was there. Anyway, I need to continue my work. Thanks for helping my recovery, but I can take it from here. I might see you soon, depending on my schedule. Got things to dig and places to build."

Ignoring the protests, Richter said,

"Farewell."

And then he was off towards the forest. The Belmont was halfway towards the altar when he realized that he had left his satchel and shirt at Toriel's house. He knew it would be awkward going back, but he had no other choice. His satchel contained some personal objects as well as the Map and Creature Papers. Sucking up his pride, or what was left of it after that fiasco in the morning, he turned around and trekked back towards the house

Arriving shortly after his realization, Richter knocked on the door. Sans' voice resonated from the other side.

"what's the password?"

"Sans, I don't have time for this. I left my satchel and shirt inside. I just came back to get it."

"come on, take a guess."

Richter had to resist the urge to kick down the door right then and there. Becoming frustrated, Richter retorted with probably the worst password he had ever thought of.

"Password. That's my guess."

The door opened and Sans applauded.

"that wasn't so hard."

Heading into the kitchen, where everyone WASN'T surprised to see him back, he grabbed his satchel off of the counter. Quickly checking to see if it contained everything, the Belmont headed back towards the door. One thing was missing though: Maria's locket. It was originally hers, but she gave it to Richter when he first rescued her. Supposedly a good luck charm; he never took it off until Shaft's control. The center picture was of Annette, while the image on the door was of Maria. Richter went down his mental listings of where it could be located; he turned up with nothing. The last time he had seen it was right before he fell unconscious. Growling softly, Richter searched the bag again. Nothing. He searched the guest room he was staying in. Nothing. He knew it had to be somewhere. Richter finally found his shirt in a room with something called a "washing machine". His search turned up with nothing. Becoming angry at himself for losing something so dear to him, he asked everyone at the table.

"Just a small question. Did any of you see a small silver locket? It seems that I lost it in the house, but I don't know where. It was here last night, so it couldn't ha-"

Richter spotted Sans holding the locket by its chain, admiring it. He instantly summoned a dagger, but quickly banished it. He needed to stop acting so reflexively.

"Sans, how did you get that? That's some real talent for nicking things off of people."

"is this real silver?"

Richter nearly lost it there. He slowly eased his breathing before responding.

"Yeah, it is. Twas given to me by Maria."

"pretty cool. who are the people inside the locket?"

Richter suddenly froze up; attracting everyone's attention. Not bothering to untense, Richter hissed the answer through his teeth.

"Sans, hand it to me. Now."

Sans was shaken by how serious the human was. Sure, he had encountered several pissed humans during his work hours, but none so serious as Richter. It wasn't his face that worried him. In fact, Richter's face was eerily calm. It was his eyes that truly frightened Sans. What made it even more confusing was that it was all about someone in a locket...He mentally slapped himself. It must've been family members from the world where he came from. Sans remembered Richter saying that there wasn't a way back. Sans assumed that the human must've been sensitive on the matter. He promptly handed it over. Richter quickly took it up and clasped it around his neck. He made an audible sigh before heading out, waving. Everyone was still reeling over how tense the situation had become.

On his way down one of the streets, a pair of humans stepped out from an alley and began to interrogate the Belmont. Richter mentally had to remind himself that the humans weren't incredibly stupid, they just didn't know who Richter was. He couldn't shake the feeling that he might have an inkling of a god complex.

"So you're friends with these monsters, huh?"

"You do know that these things are evil and are trying to steal our jobs."

Richter couldn't help but snort over how wrong and naive they were being. However, he decided to humor him.

"Listen, just give these monsters a shot. They are nice people once you get to know them."

"Only shot we will give the monsters is a gun shot."

Richter doubted that either of them owned a musket. They didn't seem to be the kind of people who could carry and accurately fire one. He still didn't know about new guns, so he immediately thought of muskets. However, Richter was becoming slightly angry over how rude they were being.

"Why do you assume the worst out of such kindhearted creatures?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"Monster lovers like you can't understand the truth."

This was wasting his time and they probably knew it. Pushing past them, Richter had the intention of walking forward-

"Hold on punk"

-That was until one of them decided to grab Richter's arm. Richter clenched his fists and embedded them in his sides, slowly turning to see why they had stopped him. There he saw one human holding a knife while the other held Richter's arm.

"You have some guts to walk right past us. You better heed our wo-"

He didn't get to finish. Richter had summoned a Throwing Axe and slammed the handle down onto the man's forearm, breaking it. Recoiling from pain, the man signaled the other human with his working arm and they both ran off. Of course they would resort to violence if Richter didn't pay attention, quite like an arrogant child.

As he entered the forest, he was met by the Fire Warg from earlier. More surprised than angry, Richter asked,

"Why are you here? A giant wolf in a forest attracts unwanted attention. We discussed this earlier."

She seemed to slump her shoulders at his lecture, but she still 'spoke'.

"(I thought you would like the company. We aren't working until later anyway, and you left the house early. I, at least, could sense your emotions and there was a sudden wave of anger.)"

Oh yea, that was true. They could do that. Richter had completely forgotten about that.

"(It's not like people are following you here. People seem to stay away from this forest. I don't know why. Now come over here. Let's talk.)"

With that, she found a place under a tree and rested. She pawed the ground next to her, signaling Richter to come over. Maybe she was right; he guessed he needed to relax for a while. Being pent up like his current situation was doing to him doesn't serve him well, considering that he was a man of action; said actions usually being fueled by emotions. He blamed his instincts. Richter guessed he could conduct an experiment of sorts while he rested with the Warg. Richter joined the Fire Warg under the shade of the tree, his back against her side. It was truly strange to Richter how massive she was. She was unusually large for a Fire Warg. The warmth that radiated off of her was comforting, to say the least. That, in combination with her oddly soft fur, nearly put Richter to sleep. He had to stop paying attention to her breathing or he would fall unconscious. Slowly stroking her back, he began to talk.

"I was worried when someone would become offended by me simply visiting the monsters here."

"(Like you said, it would take time.)"

"Yea, I did say that."

Richter wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible. So, he thought of a random question,

"I was wondering, what do you think of this forest?"

"(What do you mean by that?)"

"I mean what are your thoughts on this specific forest."

The sentence was followed by a thoughtful silence. After a while, she answered.

"(It is strangely secluded and unusually bright, but everything else about it is amazing. The temperature is much nicer than the forest in the Altar. So many different kinds of trees. As well as that, it is calming. That's one of the reasons why I chose to meet you here.)"

She emphasized her point by giving a content growl.

"I guess I would have to agree with you. I guess that's why I'm choosing to live up here instead of the village. Both will be on this world, but this is on the surface. On that subject-"

Richter pulled out the rough sketch of the house that would be on the surface. It had two purposes. Its first purpose was to be the connector between the surface and the village. Its second purpose was to be a house Richter could live in.

"This is the house's blueprints. I will be working on this while the cave expedition starts. However, I need to start construction today for obvious reasons."

She just nudged the Belmont to signal that she was listening.

"The problem is material acquirement for said house. With some help from the group assigned to this section, it could be completed in a week or so. However, that requires all of the materials to be readily available. I tried cutting some of the trees down here, but I feel like that was a bad idea."

Richter rubbed his face with the palms of his hands. He didn't know of any solutions to the problem. He couldn't risk injuring himself so early again, even if he was at full health. He still felt exhausted.

"(Well, I have an idea.)"

"Really? Go for it."

"(If you connect the house's future location to the Altar, you could magically summon the materials. This also allows the house to be repaired magically. You would still have to build it though.)"

"Would that even work?"

"(We should try. Let's go.)"

With that, she got up. However. she was abnormally low to the ground, like a crouch. Richter just gave her a puzzled look

"(Come on, get on.)"

"Hold on a second. You want me to ride you?"

"(I'm fine with it. I trust you to not do anything dangerous while on me. You look completely exhausted and I won't allow you to walk further.)"

"Ok then, I'll try my best."

Climbing on top of her was easier than he expected. Once he had gotten into a comfortable position, she took off towards the Altar. The trip was much faster than it would had been if they walked there. However, Richter didn't consider the distance large enough for using her as a mount. She seemed to be fine with it, however. Once they got there, she crouched low. However, Richter spread out completely across her back and said,

"I think I will just sleep here. I'm way too comfortable."

"(Come on, you have things to do.)"

"Your fault that this happened. You are way too soft; it acts like a sedative."

After a few more moments, however, Richter clambered off the back of the Fire Warg. She let out a very quiet whine and hoped that Richter didn't hear it. She had actually enjoyed the experience. It was the goal for many Fire Wargs to get a worthy rider. It was practically their sole goal in life. That was why most Fire Wargs envied Warg Riders.

Richter, of course noticed. He didn't say anything though. He didn't know exactly how to react. He still wasn't the best at reading the emotions of animals and he wasn't keen on magically figuring out her emotions. That would be a breach of privacy. Richter didn't know of that many beings who had a true connection and bond to animals. Owl Knight was one of them though. He quietly repeated the name to himself so he wouldn't forget to ask him later.

The Vampire Hunter found himself investigating the trees around the altar. Magic from his world had a tendency to change the surrounding areas. The entire area was devoid of natural noises such as birds and insects. He assumed that they were either driven off or killed. That was the problem with all magic: it always had a downside. Scouting the area, he discovered that it was surprisingly flat. He didn't need to worry about trees getting in the way of construction, for he had removed the few standing trees immediately around the Altar. Everything seemed to be perfect for building.

"Are you sure this will work? There is a chance that I'll make a fool out of myself."

"(When did that matter?)"

"Good point."

The Altar had already surrounded the area with its magic, so all he had to do was officially claim the land. Walking around the borders of the magic's range, Richter slowly traced along the ground with his hands. Something was happening, but the Belmont wouldn't know for sure until he circled back. Finally covering the area, Richter took a deep breath and attempted to display the borders of this area. A giant wall of blue light boxed in the location at the exact places of the borders. Excellent, it had worked.

"(That wasn't so hard, now was it?)"

"Shush you!"

The next step was to test the summoning process. The easiest way to describe the process for later explanations was that it was like simply willing things to be in a certain place. He started off with the fountain found in Karasuman's domain. That worked. Getting used to the process, Richter began to summon the large list of materials. Lumber, stone, brick, etc. It took him about an hour of summoning things, resting, and summoning things again.

In front of him was the towering pile of pre-house, waiting to be turned into a house. This is when the first team starts their job. Feeling proud of himself, Richter looked around for the Fire Warg. She had retreated underneath the shade of one of the larger trees outside the build site. He must've somehow bored her. Pulling out the staff for the Forest Section, he began to notify the workers.

The workers had arrived only moments later, seemingly waiting for the operation to begin. Owl Knight's choices when it came to staff were excellent and incredibly wise. Owl Knight appeared and bowed, speaking at the same time.

"I'm here, sire."

"Listen Owl Knight. None of that here, ok? I'm not your leader or sire. I'm not some dictator or magical ruler. Address me by my actual name please."

With the awkward conversation over with, Owl Knight and Richter were sat down at a table (which he summoned) and discussed the blueprints of the house. Everything went well, with Owl Knight occasionally recommending something absurd to the Belmont.

"I'm pretty sure that the house doesn't need to be larger, Owl Knight. I see no purpose of having a large house. I don't plan on having the castle staff living in there. If I did, I wouldn't be building the village."

"Well, will you at least consider having the trophy room? Might as well record our past. It may have been violent, but it was certainly interesting. A warrior should at least flaunt his achievements."

"But the village does that."

"What about the creatures and trophies before this castle? I'm sure that they won't be in the village. You should be proud of your linage. Your predecessors kept a trophy room."

He brought up a good point, Richter thought. But, it also brought up a valid question.

"Sure, but I need to know. Why do you care so much about this trophy room? You would be on the losing side of the history displayed by such a room."

"Yes, I accepted that loss long ago. See, with us not being able to go back, we have to preserve our history. You won't live forever. The future children and inhabitants of the castle need to know of our struggles and battles. They deserve to know of our failures, successes, and general lineage."

"Hmmmm..."

"You are a man of pride. Everyone in the castle knows this. All Belmonts have been extremely prideful. I can tell that a part of you wants to show off your successes and the beings you have defeated; us, the creatures of the castle. Don't you even try to lie to me. You're awful at that anyway and it doesn't fit you."

Slamming his hands on the table, Richter replied.

"You win."

Chuckling, the Owl Knight began to add something to the blueprints.

"There truly weren't any doubts of my success."

He finally finished. Richter was wondering how a spirit in a suit of armor could be so smug.

"So, when do we start working?"

"Now would be best. I'll be helping the process, so it shouldn't take too long."

The Owl Knight quickly asked a question.

"Wait, where will you be residing while this is happening?"

Spreading my arms, Richter resumed talking.

"Here, of course. I don't plan on resting until it's finished. Don't worry about it, I can handle it. I'm in a better condition than I was in earlier."

The Owl Knight began to nod.

"Try not to be eaten by whatever creatures reside in this forest."

With that, Owl Knight got up and started shouting orders. Owl Knight had the situation under control, so Richter saw no need to interject. He just began to work alongside the staff of their section. Time began to fly by.

It was early in the morning when they took a break. Richter wouldn't be joining them. So much of the house had been done in such little time. He guessed having a crew of supernatural creatures and spirits sped up the process. All that was left was the stairway to the excavation site, the area surrounding the Altar, and the roof. That's what the Belmont was working on at the time. The Venus Weeds could take care of the Altar site and the Bomb and Stone Knights were capable of taking care of the stairs. Launching himself up to the solid part of the roof, he began to work on hammering some of the shingles down. Since hammers weren't available, the Vampire Hunter used the side of an axe. He knew it wasn't going to break anyway.

"that was fast. reminds me, did you get those from a skeleton?"

Wait, what? He was totally confused. Richter stopped and turned around, facing the short and stout skeleton clad in blue. Richter wished he didn't have to peer of the roof to see Sans.

"because i think those are shin-giles."

Richter had to hold on to the roof else he would fall off from laughing too hard. He had no idea that a skeleton could have such a strange sense of humor.

"That was bad, Sans. I'm pretty sure that was the worst one you've said so far."

"a for effort, am i right?"

"In most cases in this world, yes."

Richter felt himself become somber at his own retort. Desummoning the axe, he sat down on the edge of the roof.

"You know, I've missed that mentality. For most of my later life, I was taught that a single mistake could kill a person. It was sadly reinforced by the mounting challenges that faced me. Too bad I made too many."

"waddya mean?"

Richter mentally punched himself. He was becoming emotional, weaker even, at a fast rate. He shouldn't allow himself to do this. Looking around, he found her. The Fire Warg was in the same place in the forest as earlier, sleeping. He already showed her his emotion side and he didn't want to show anyone else.

"Never mind, it's fine. I'm just spouting nonsense. Somewhat tired and all of that."

"you don't look bone tired to me."

"Trust me Sans, I am."

Richter knew that if it continued like this, he would eventually break. Luckily, the Fire Warg came to his rescue by making a scene of getting up. She must've known what was happening. Richter had to give her credit; she was more perceptive than she seems. It got Sans' attention pretty quickly. It was like he hadn't noticed her earlier. Strange.

"(Is this skeleton going to stare at me like this for a while?)"

"I don't know. It's up to him, really."

Sans sharply turned to Richter, face crunched up in thought and confusion.

"who are you talking to?"

Laughing slightly, the Belmont returned to working on the house. He reminded himself to not get himself involved in such awkward situations again. Well, at least until he had a stable house to run to and hide in.


	6. Chapter 5: Poker Powerhouse (Mini-fic)

The chance of this guy having a straight was low, but possible. I couldn't pick up on any tells. I've always been a lousy poker player. That, and how are you supposed to read the tells of Death himself? Simply impossible, that's what this was. I wasn't a boss of any sort; just a lousy Spear Guard. Not that I'm hating on my own abilities, but still. Throwing my hand onto the table, I gave up. Somehow, I managed to toss my hand with my hand of cards. I quickly fumbled trying to get the gauntlet back on while I complained.

"I can't do it! I don't know how people win against you!"

Death let out a soft chuckle.

"Simple. You get lucky on the draw. Same with staying alive; you just get lucky long enough to live out a decent lifespan. That's what makes this game so appealing."

Of course Death plays poker for the luck aspect. I get the feeling that Death might have an unhealthy fascination with gambling. Not like the guy can die anyway. Actually...

"Ever played Richter in a game of cards, Death?"

Death, surprised by such a question, responded rather quickly.

"No, I haven't. He doesn't play Poker. He's too busy for anything of the sort. For now, at least."

Death leaned in close.

"Don't tell anyone else I said this, but I've heard that Richter is awful at Poker."

Everyone else at the table initially scoffed, but we eventually began to laugh. A Dhuron spoke from its dismembered head.

"Richter!? Bad at something like Poker? HAH! No way! Poker is basically predicting your opponent's actions. Richter's being doing that for years!"

Death nodded in agreement, but retorted.

"Sure, he's excellent at fighting. However, out of a stress inducing situation, Richter can't really pick up on a tell or etc."

"What?"

"Yeah, it's true. The Belmont's training constantly puts him in stress-inducing situations. They aren't really trained for social tells. Predicting a swing and predicting a smile are two different things."

Everyone at the table, including myself, was shocked. Death had an excellent point. The Dhuron chuckled and began.

"I guess that means he's easy gold."

That amused Death immensely. Not that he actually laughed; he just shook his head side to side.

"No. Richter knows that he is awful at card games. There's no way you can force him into a game of cards. He's keen on keeping his pride, and coffer, intact."

Speaking of the devil, Richter had walked into the kitchen carrying a box of nails and an axe. That's an interesting substitute for a hammer.

"So, who's winning?"

Nonchalantly, Death said,

"I am, of course."

"Death, give these poor sods a chance. They need to keep some gold."

"It's their fault for going up against me in a game of luck."

Richter just laughed and walked out the hole in the wall that was going to be the backdoor to the center garden, which also housed the altar.

Silence, until I realized something. I had to voice this out or I would've bashed in a skull.

"Death, we don't CHOOSE to go against you! You just force yourself into our games! We all know better than to play you in a game of cards!"

Death began to chuckle slightly, which faltered when he noticed everyone staring at him. Getting up from the table, he bowed and vanished. Of course the prick would do that. He might as well be a dragon, with his lust for gold. The Dhuron broke the silence.

"So, who is up for another game?"

A collective murmur rose from the group as I started dealing out cards.


	7. Chapter 6: Doppelganger Danger (Richter)

Within a week, the house had been completed. Foundation, flooring, walls, paint, roofing, shingles, trophy room, bedroom, center garden, etc. This includes furnishing. For furniture, the castle itself has had quite a lot of furniture appear in its many renditions. Who knew that one of the versions had a complete model of the Clock Tower? In the trophy room, I decided to showcase every single enemy I, my father, my father's father, and further on had fought. It was off putting how easy it was for the altar to create replicas of these entities. The models of myself were extremely accurate. It had two versions: Pre-Shaft and Shaft Controlled. Pre-Shaft was me reaching my prime. It's easy to tell once you look at the face. Shaft Controlled version had more Gothic apparel and longer hair. Not a bad look, but still. Just doesn't fit my personality. No Post-Shaft. That will probably appear when I die, if I die. I honestly don't know if I'll be somehow sent into another timeline. I'm not assuming anything anymore. I'm honestly glad that some of the creatures we had to fight didn't come with the altar. Dracula, Shaft, and Beezelbub to name a few. I still don't have a definite answer as to why a few creatures have been left out. Maybe the one's with truly evil spirits were left behind. That would make sense, hopefully. I still worry that one of these days, I'm going to be wandering and Dracula is going to be there. Sure, I can kick his ass, but I don't want to think of him being part of this social ecosystem.

My living situation was somewhat shoddy, to be honest. By my own doing, of course. I ate, slept, and breathed work until the house was finished. Occasional breaks were something I allowed. By occasional, I mean one. Ever. Sure, this worried several of my "co-workers". However, I'm not really worried by that. What worried me was the sheer amount of times Sans came by. I get the feeling that he was being sent by Toriel. Speaking of which, I'll have to visit her sometime. Such a nice family. The occasional visits by the Fire Warg were more welcomed though. No fucking way I'll tell her that though. Despite my better judgement, I've decided to call her Ember. She didn't bring up any quarrels with the name and I couldn't be any more glad. Again, not telling her that. She reminded me of one of the hounds I had while training. I used to have to track him through the forest to test my abilities.

Banishing the last of the buckets of paint, I finally decided to rest. Now thinking about it, I haven't eaten in a few days. Checking my status bar, I finally noticed my exhaustion. I was at quarter-health. My limbs were sore, my eyesight was shot, and I was mentally tired. Maybe after a decent rest I'll go to one of the town's diners. I think Sans had mentioned Grillbys once. Never heard of it, but it must be a decent place for him to actually mention it. I've heard he can be a bit picky when it came to eating.

The front yard was going to need some cleaning. Planks of wood and several stacks of bricks were scattered throughout the yard. The Venus Weeds were going to pitch a fit. I'll clean that later. It won't be of too much importance since they were most likely busy with the house's center garden. With Ember gone doing...something, I just decided to rest on the porch. Rocking Chairs were a must when it came to furniture. Good thing the Librarian had a few hundred of them. Sitting down, I finally realized that I had actually missed relaxation. I'll just close my eyes for a few seconds. Shouldn't take too much time.

I was suddenly falling. Wait, I'm falling? Why am I falling? The ground was coming towards my face quickly. Thinking fast, I flipped myself so I would hit the ground feet first. I hope this isn't going to break my legs. Landing gracefully on some sort of brick surface covered in red carpet, I looked around me. WHERE WAS I? It looked like the Castle Keep. Looking down, I was wearing my "hunting" tunic: my Vampire Hunting Tunic. I had switched that out after I started building. Looking behind me, I suddenly froze. A cold chill ran down my spine.

It was the moon, the Clock Tower partially blocking. I was back here. Based off of the look of things, this was my first time I had fought Dracula. Well, this nightmare will be over when I kill him again. There is now way I was back here again in the flesh. I must have fallen asleep or something. Running into the room and vaulting myself over the table, I initiated my Push Slide, launching myself into a jump kick to break the standing candles. I've always enjoyed the feeling of doing that. When I had done it the first time, I thought it would intimidate Dracula. Hah, was I wrong. I guess I have another chance now.

Recovering from the kick, I turn towards the throne, ready to shout out some useless words. However, Dracula wasn't there. Someone else had taken his place on the throne. It can't be! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!

"Hello, Richter. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. I would never pass an opportunity to fight a Vampire Hunter as skilled as myself."

Richter was sitting on the throne, smiling deviously. Oh no, this wasn't going to be good. I hated doppelgangers.

Adept Dashing off the throne steps, he landed mere feet in front of me.

"You know, from what I heard, you were a master of your trade. Yet, you stand here shaking in your boots. Why? You must've fought monsters that looked worse than me. Probably more intimidating than I, for sure."

Oh Christ, I was actually going to fight myself. Such a strange sentence. I've fought my doppelganger several times. Comes with the job. I've killed a doppelganger of Trevor Belmont and his friends, Sipha and Grant. I've even fought a strange doppelganger of Alucard and Alucard himself. Now thinking about it, I wasn't really fighting him. I was somehow able to stop myself from killing him when we fought. Due to Shaft not knowing of all of my abilities, I was able to halt myself from kicking his human ass. Well, I think he was human. That's not my point however. Fighting me, the actual me, is going to be incredibly hard. That's if this was actually me. Doppelgangers are incredible liars. It must be based off of me in some way. However, if this is the Shaft version, then it should be easier. Shaft didn't know how to utilize most of my abilities. I asked, being a bit blunt,

"So, do you run this castle? Are you planning on resurrecting Dracula so you can fight him?"

"Of course not! That would be pointless. I've had to fight my way up here, much like yourself. Dracula just isn't here though. You will do though. You see, the monsters here aren't really much of a challenge. I need a real fight to prove my prowess."

Oh no. This isn't the Shaft Controlled Version of me. This is Pre-Shaft me. This is before I had even fought Shaft. How did Pre-Shaft me get up here without fighting Shaft? In fact, how was "I" in such good condition? I was bleeding heavily the first time I got to Dracula. I remember swearing to kill every bat I saw after that shitty bridge.

"NO MORE DELAYS! PREPARE YOURSELF!"

With that, Richter had taken a quick strike at my chest with the Vampire Killer. Doing a back-flip, I prepared to conjure a few axes. Landing quickly rewarded me to the sight of him initiating an Item Crash. This was about to get ugly really fast. However, I knew this was the best time to strike. Throwing the axes, I Ultimate Uppercut-ted to the ceiling behind him as Richter had launched an endless horde of daggers at my previous position. As I expected, he couldn't dodge the axes. There goes half of his health. I guess that's one of my larger flaws: I can't really take many hits before I'm down. He must know that I'm immune to some of his Holy attacks, or he would have used Hydro Storm. Thousand Blade Edge was an excellent choice for an attack against one who isn't affected by Holy Items and Spells, but that requires me to stand still.

Pulling out of the Crash, he quickly turned around and Dashed at me. Thinking quickly, I had no choice but to Dash back at him. The Dash made me invulnerable for a few seconds and did damage on contact, so this won't hurt either of us if we are both Dashing. Going through each other, we both turned around and attempted a quick swing with the Flail-Whip. Direct hit on both of us. Pushed back slightly by the attack, I decided to risk something. I Slide Kicked my way over his head, only to be Ultimate Uppercut-ted. It was at this moment I realized that I had just screwed up epically. There went the majority of my health. No way to save face here after such a failure. There was only one thing I could do that would destroy him, but it would probably knock me out from exhaustion afterward. It'll be worth it just to rid myself of this problem; that being myself somehow.

Pulling myself out of a mid-air tumble, I began the Holy Book Item Crash. Taking this time to prepare something, he began another Crash as well. However, he wasn't using any specific item. I then realized what he was doing. He was empowering the Vampire Killer with fire. I would be down in one hit if he used that as his main method of attack. That's if he survives this crash. As the Holy Books formed a 2-Dimensional Circle around me, a multicolored beam of light slowly connected each book. Richter had finished the empowerment initiation and started his Dash, just in time to be hit by the large energy beam emitting from the circle. This must've killed him. The Beam, while somewhat Holy, still was hot as the depths of Hell. There is no way he could've Dashed long enough for him to neglect all of the damage. Dropping to the ground after such an attack, I frantically searched for him.

I had managed to blow a hole into the wall of the tower, showing the endless twilight that seemingly wrapped itself around the castle. No articles of clothing, no blood. I just couldn't find any signs of him. Maybe I had truly destroyed him. No need to worry about any meaning to that, for it was only a dream. Then again, if it was a dream, why am I still here? Looking up at my status bar, I saw that I had only a few points left. It would have been a do or die situation if I hadn't initiated such a tiring but devastating move. Dusting myself off, I turned around only to find Richter there. Something was different here.

This was the Shaft Controlled version of me. Longer attire and hair, he radiated a sense of commanding. No doubt he was in control of this castle. It was if someone had taken all of the traits of a monarch and infused them with a powerful soldier. Gesturing by widely spreading his arms as if to welcome a hug, he said,

"Hah, that was too easy. You look to be on your last leg and yet, I'm doing fine! This is the power of being the ultimate hunter. You have to be willing to give in to the power to be unstoppable. Guess you don't deserve such a challenge as myself!"

He had stopped talking and ending up nearly keeling over from laughter. I hope I wasn't this arrogant and stupid now. Just being mocked pissed me off to such a degree that I launched a dagger in his direction. It probably would've worked, but a Guardian appeared in-front of him and blocked the dagger with ease. Two more Guardians appeared soon after.

"Tis not fair to take advantage of someone while they are laughing. For that, you truly must die!"

With that, he walked up to the throne. Was he really just going to leave me here to deal with these three minions? This won't be going well. I should've been less reckless. I just didn't have to health to gamble. Twas a flaw that all Belmont's shared. We just learned to think carefully and to dodge more than we swing.

The Guardian in-front of me swung overhead, his target being my left shoulder. Only having a second to react, I rolled to the right; only to meet an uppercut from hell. I found myself in the air as the heavy gauntlet connected with my skull, tumbling through the hole in the wall. My head throbbed with a fierce pain and everything was strangely white a few moments after being hit. I expected to land on one of the battlements, but I never hit the ground. I slowly lost consciousness as I saw the hole in the wall quickly distance itself from me.

Jolting up, I found myself in the rocking chair I had sat on earlier. Looking over myself, I found no noticeable sign of injury. I was wearing my construction uniform: simple overalls covering a basic tunic without sleeves. No one was around me, but it was at night. This was odd, I expected someone to wake me for questions. The dream suddenly hit me. As all of the details came in, I grimaced. Such a terrible show of prowess. Even if it was a dream, I should've been more careful. That would've been the end of me if I had actually found myself there.

Massaging my face, I realized that I had been sweating. Looking up at my status bar, I had seemingly lost health. Was the dream real? No, that would've been impossible. I was here with no noticeable signs of injury. Shaking these thoughts out of my head, I got up. No point in thinking of such trivial things if the truth was in front of me. I wasn't going to accomplish anything if I just sat here debating if the situation was real or not. Nothing to do about my now sour mood though. Maybe, just maybe, a trip out to the town could lighten my spirits.


	8. Chapter 7: Townside Trouble

Needless to say, Richter was pissed. A man's pride is one thing. However, a Belmont's pride is something else entirely. They valued their abilities over all else, with the only exception being family. Knowing that he was bested so easily, even in a dream, infuriated him to no end. What didn't help matters was that no one had woken him up before day fell. Richter knew he had things to do; they must've known that as well. Even worse was the strange absence of all of the monsters that normally roamed the house during construction. He had expected at least one Venus Weed to wake him up. They had been quite picky when it came to the treatment of the garden and the lawn. He knew they hated seeing all of the materials in the front yard. Yet, no one seemed to be here.

Richter became so tired of thinking of such trivial things that he decided that the best way to help his troubled mind was to work. Richter began to carry all of the equipment and such onto the porch, where he would then banish it back to the Altar where it came from. Only once the sun began to rise had he realized that he had been doing this for several hours. They had more materials up here than he thought they needed for a house of this size. They would've been better downstairs, in the cave where the village would soon reside.

Checking the Stopwatch that Richter carried as a sub-weapon, he saw that it was 7:00 in the morning. He didn't have anything else to do. He had separated himself from the construction of the cave due to the requests of many of the Section Leaders. They assumed that Richter was overworking myself, and he thought that they might have a point. However, Richter knew he was going to go mental if he didn't do something. Most of his life was training for Dracula's return, and then he had Annette afterwords. Now he had nothing else to do for a while. Well, except to wander the town and see what could be found around there. Now was around the time for Breakfast anyway. Richter wasn't willing to go alone, however. There was someone he had been wanting to talk to since the Section Meeting. Richter pinged the creature and waited for it to appear soon later. He had a mental list of people to get to know. After the one he just pinged, he wanted to converse with Scylla. That would have to happen later though.

About four minutes later, the Cloaked Knight appeared. This confirmed Richter's suspicion that they didn't disappear and instead were avoiding Richter while he slept. All of them must've been working on the cave during the night then. He would have a stern conversation about them avoiding him while he was sleeping. It wasn't like he was going to subconsciously fight them or anything. Actually, Richter didn't know if that was possible. He'd have to ask the Librarian.

"Sorry to ping you so early, Cloaked Knight. I was about to head into town to explore the place and I wondered if you wanted to come with me. Might do us some good to explore and get used to the townsfolk."

"..."

Silence, of course. Richter had to quickly think of a way to salvage the situation, or at least provide an explanation as to why he chose him instead of some of the less threatening creatures. He didn't want to assume that the Cloaked Knight was fickle, but he couldn't help it. He barley knew the guy.

"I've decided to try to get to know the creatures who inhabit the Altar more and you are at the top of the list. We've only encountered each other a few times. Would be nice to get to know some of the creatures here before I wake up from this dream and arrive back in that hellhole that was Shaft's control."

Richter knew what he said was a dramatic over exaggeration, but there was some truth to it. He did feel that the situation was dreamlike due to everything going so well.

"..."

"So, want to come? It's not mandatory."

If Richter could just get him to speak, the eerie silence would have been worth it.

"...sure"

Worth it.

The town was much larger than expected. Richter had assumed it would be like the villages back home, where only a few houses, an inn, blacksmith, and a few misc places resided. He never knew that towns such as this existed. Stores and a large variety of buildings stretched farther than they could really see. The Cloaked Knight seemed to be as interested in the town as Richter was. Not like the Cloaked Knight would tell Richter so. The Belmont only figured it out by watching which direction the edge of his floating sword pointed, accompanied by the floating knight himself. It didn't act like an arrow for it remained always pointing towards the ground, but the bottom of the blade would slightly tilt in a certain direction. Based off of this observation, he was admiring the scenery.

"So, what do you think? Surprising?"

"...yes"

"The town I resided in wasn't even close to this, and I thought our town was large!"

"...Indeed. Twas a small town. Few places to hide."

About halfway through, they spotted what looked to be a bar of sorts. The name "Grillbys" adorned the top of the somewhat rustic establishment. From all of the light coming from inside, the place seemed to be open. Might as well as start here for food. Richter hadn't eaten anyway. Turning towards the Cloaked Knight, he asked,

"Are you sure you are ready to socialize? Might be a bit of a stretch for you!"

He seemed to take the teasing seriously, for the knight suddenly turned at such a speed that his helmet, instead of stopping with the rest of his body, continued spinning. After stopping it with his hands, he responded.

"We'll see."

"Just don't point that sword at anyone. Seeing a floating knight cloaked in black is probably scary enough, but one that is armed is even worse when it comes to appearance."

"...No promises."

Sharply turning towards him, stopping him from entering the bar, Richter began to lecture him on the danger of bad first impressions.

"...you worry too much, Richter."

A soft sound was echoing out of his armor, resembling the noise one would hear when shaking a bag of gold; he was laughing. Cutting himself off, he just sheepishly nodded towards him and went in. He will show him who's worrying too much after someone flips out about a floating set of armor armed with a floating red greatsword.

The bar was rather small, only holding six booths on the left side and a few tables, excluding the bar counter. There was a small stage on the right of the building, accompanied by a jukebox. However, despite its small size, it gave off a homely vibe. The place was empty, even behind the bar. Richter assumed it must be due to the time. They heard noises that resembled the sounds of pots and pans coming from door on the back wall. Someone was probably in the kitchen preparing for the day. Approaching the bar counter, Richter took a seat on one of the many bar stools. The Cloaked Knight seemed to debate whether to sit down or levitate, but finally just nudged a stool out of the way and levitated a bit lower in its place. Richter decided to ask him a few questions. It was now or never, after all.

"So, what do you think of this place?"

"...quaint."

"I can imagine some of our monsters relaxing here. What do you think? Although I don't see us getting any of the Bone Dragons in here."

"...possibly. They can be...influenced."

"Well I'm not so sure on how you can influence a fucking BONE DRAGON, but whatever. They don't really respond to food like some animals do."

The Cloaked Knight turned his head slightly as if he was going to suggest something, but quickly returned to looking at the bar's tabletop. Richter took his silence as being offended by something he had said.

"I hope you don't mind me prying, but I was wondering why you are so silent all of the time. Is it something I did?"

That might've been too much. Richter knew that if he had been asked a personal question like that, he would've bailed. Maybe dive out of a window or something. That or freeze time. However, he knew he couldn't allow himself to use such a shocking ability for a cause so unfit.

"Wisdom will never be found in the ones with the most to say."

That was unexpected. Before Richter could respond, someone came out of the supposed kitchen. He don't know what he would've said in response, so Richter was quite thankful for the bartender to appear.

"Ah good, the bartender is..."

What he didn't expect to find was that the sun had gotten tired of being, well, the sun and decided to open a bar. Or, at least that was Richter's first impression. After the initial shock, he began to take in his features. It looked male, with a solid build; broad shoulders and slim torso complemented by the uniform. Average height for a male. However, what was unusual was that the man was made completely out of fire. The top of the man's head looked like the top of a campfire, flickering this way or that with the non-existent wind. The only facial feature he had was a pair of round spectacles being held up by a non-existent nose. Confusing to Richter, to say the least. On his vest was a name tag which read "Grillby". Richter assumed that this Grillby owned this place. Unless, of course, there was a hierarchy of Grillbys.

The walking proverbial candlestick walked in front of their seats while looking around for something. Richter assumed other attendees. After arriving, he tilted his head and seemingly said something. It took the group longer than they expected to figure out what he had said. He had to repeat himself several times until they could figure out how his speech worked. His voice resembled the crackling of a inferno, with occasional pops mid-sentence. It was as if the depths of hell burned inside his throat. Richter found that to be an apt comparison.

"Bit early."

Richter had guessed that they were slightly early from the lack of people there. However, he assumed they sold Breakfast.

"Sorry about that. We're-" Richter indicated to the Cloaked Knight and himself- "new to the town and we were wondering if this establishment sold Breakfast."

Grillby nodded his head and glanced at Richter's companion. His gaze was now entirely focused on the Cloaked Knight. Grillby recovered a bit too late, enough for Richter and the Cloaked Knight to notice he was staring. They both expected the man of fire to request that the weapon was put up, but he never said anything of that sort. He instead asked something else entirely.

"Burger or Fries?"

"So no Breakfast food then?"

Grillby shook his head and was about to ask again, but the Vampire Hunter stopped him with his hand. Turning over to the Cloaked Knight,

"You choose. I don't care, really."

The Belmont honestly didn't care. He's had worse foods for Breakfast. The castle's infamous wall-turkey and wall-pork chops used to be his Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner for a while. Richter could've sworn that Cloaked Knight glared at him before answering.

"...fries."

Grillby nodded and headed back towards the kitchen, flames trailing behind his head. That left Cloaked Knight and Richter in silence again. Without anything to ask, the group just sat in a slightly uncomfortable impasse. Richter pulled out the map he and the Knight had been working on. Drawing in Grillbys, Richter began to add small details in the parts they had already been. What surprised Richter was that the Cloaked Knight would occasionally offer suggestions when it came to the aesthetics. A few minutes later, Grillby came back with two small baskets of fries. Putting them down, he began to clean some glasses. Richter found that strange, considering that he never offered drinks. What made that weirder was the large shelf of alcohol behind the man. Richter guessed that he wouldn't offer anything alcoholic the morning. Still didn't answer the question as to why a fire elemental owned a bar; a place full of a highly flammable substance.

Focusing on the map, they slowly ate away at the fries. They were surprisingly wonderful. Richter considered checking his status bar to see if it had changed any since most of all of the food in the castle healed him. However, the Belmont decided it wouldn't be worth it. The map took precedence over anything else.

They eventually finished, being too enveloped in the map to do much else; so much so that they didn't notice the group of armor-clad dogs entering the bar. How they didn't notice them initially baffled Grillby since the dogs were incredibly loud. They often could wake Sans up with their noise, and he was a very heavy sleeper. Later thinking about the noise, Grillby found that the dogs were louder that day than most due to the strange visitors in the bar. However, Richter and the Cloaked Knight weren't aware of them until they felt the gaze of others. Turning around, Richter managed to catch the group staring at them. They quickly looked down at their poker game. With that, Richter decided to head out. They had spent too much time at Grillbys anyway. Not like it was a bad place, but they were planning on exploring the rest of the town. If they ended up in Grillbys for the rest for the day, Richter thought that he wouldn't have another free day for a while. Sure, Richter ran the ship. However, there is no way he was going to be lazy if he was the 'boss'. The Belmonts didn't get this far by being lazy. He had to check on the village's progress later that day, so his time was short.

Checking his Stopwatch, Richter saw that it was already twelve. They had spent several hours in the bar. They had turned Breakfast into Lunch. However, Richter wasn't planning on eating Lunch at Grillbys. He had planned on finding as many food places as possible. There were a few things that Richter always enjoyed, no matter the time: Food, fighting, and animals. Few knew of the first, all knew of the second, and no one knew of the third. No way Richter was going to tell any of the castle inhabitants the latter, especially Ember since she had comforted him earlier. He wasn't planning on giving her leverage. It was bad enough that she had seen Richter at his most vulnerable moment. Her ability to "boss" him around was strange. Richter and the Cloaked Knight paid for the food and headed off.

On the way out, the Cloaked Knight turned towards Richter and asked, between chuckles,

"...so, animals? Huh. Never knew you had a soft spot for them."

Needless to say, the Vampire Hunter was mortified.

* * *

Richter was thankful that the Cloaked Knight didn't mention it again. The Belmont guessed they were too busy admiring the town. Who has a bakery run by, and literally made of, spiders? Richter made a note to eat there soon. He was mentally beating himself for letting his thoughts become vulnerable to the Cloaked Knight. He felt that his privacy was breached in a way. However, he knew that it was all in good fun. Well, fun for everyone else but himself.

Wandering around the town, they managed to finish the map. It wasn't too detailed, but it worked. They were in the center of town, resting near a large statue of that child, Frisk. Several bushes surrounded the statue, all with a different face. Whoever did it was quite talented in the arts of Hedge Artistry. Richter had the temptation to introduce the Venus Weeds to the Hedge Artist if he ever got the chance.

"...Richter?"

Surprised that he had spoken, he sharply turned to face the Cloaked Knight that was admiring the statue.

"Yeah?"

"...You do realize that peace won't be possible. Humans aren't trusting in the slightest."

Indicating towards his body, Richter responded,

"Excuse me, but what would you call this? We've been fighting for quite a while and now I'm perfectly fine with all of you. In fact, it was practically a family feud. Well, if said feud held the lives of the world in the balance."

"...That's an exception. You are mentally and emotionally tied to us due to the Altar."

Richter picked up the map and stood up, staring daggers at the Cloaked Knight. The Cloaked Knight suddenly thought that maybe Richter's gaze could actually project daggers. He wouldn't put it past the Master Vampire Hunter. He quickly turned his head from Richter. The Cloaked Knight found the Belmont to be incredibly intimidating, even though he knew Richter wouldn't do anything to him.

"I would like to believe that, even if I wasn't tied to all of you, we would still become friends if I knew of your situation."

"...So what are you going to do? Tell every human about our past?...I want this to work, but I have my worries."

Richter couldn't do much other than sigh. The Cloaked Knight had a fair point. From what Richter heard from Toriel, it had been around a year since they escaped from the mountain. Yet, they still weren't trusted by humans in the slightest.

Richter's thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of yelling. Looking around, Richter couldn't see anyone who would be yelling at them. Sure, they received some rather pointed and scared stares from some of the humans in the town, but that didn't mean they would scream out in terror at the sight of the Cloaked Knight. Yet, the yelling continued and no one seemed to be the source. It wasn't until Richter saw several humans run down an alley that he got the idea that maybe a mob or something similar was forming. Telling the Cloaked Knight to stay at the town center, he ventured towards the general area where the humans had been running. What he saw seemingly confirmed what the Cloaked Knight had said earlier.

There were two groups of humans, one large group with their backs towards Richter and another facing said group. The "defending" group was smaller. No one knew of Richter's presence yet. Taking advantage of the situation, he tried to decipher what they were saying. Several keywords such as "traitors" and "freaks" were common, so that told Richter something. What that was, he didn't know yet. The "defending" group were guarding a huddled form at the end of the alley. From what Richter could see, it was a monster. He assumed that the defending group must be locals. Being closer, he could hear clearly what the groups were saying.

"It's an abomination! They're taking our jobs and housing! They should go bury their decrepit bodies under the blasted mountain where they came from!"

"What gives you the right to say such things! They are practically us, with only a difference in appearance. In fact, I would rather be with them than the likes of you!"

"Then you'll die with them!"

At that moment, the sound of a gun being pulled came from the larger group, followed by the gasps and yells of both parties. Richter knew that if he didn't do anything, this would end up in bloodshed. He couldn't use the watch due to its energy consumption and he couldn't risk any Item Crashes since he could possibly kill someone. Deciding that his body is all he could really use in a situation like this, he Ultimate Uppercut-ed over the main group and landed between them and the other party. The defending party gasped at his sudden appearance. Taking a moment to regain his balance, he turned towards the attacking group; just to see them still advancing. He could see that they were carrying more than just guns. Bats, knives, a pitchfork somehow, and several bricks and bottles. The Vampire Hunter knew that he would have to show some sign of force or they would pave through him; so said their faces. Pulling out the Vampire Killer, Richter knelt and swept it across the ground in-front of him.

He was rewarded by the sounds of grunts and several people falling on their faces. Wrapping the Flail-Whip back up, he noticed the blood on the Flail's end. Maybe he swung slightly too fast.

The group, picking up the vanguards of the herd, continued forward. Before Richter could react, two of the attackers lunged towards him. Grappling the first to the floor, he slammed the handle of the Flail-Whip into the man's face. Turning around and narrowly dodging the swing of a bat, he grasped its mid-section and broke it in twain. Richter followed up with a kick to the man's stomach. Grunting in pain, the man fell over, stumbling several of the group members. The still advancing group weren't dissuaded by Richter's defensive capabilities. Having enough and already winded, the Vampire Hunter threw several bottles of Holy Water between himself and the charging group; several waves of Holy Fire erupted from the smashed bottles. Several yelps and yells accompanied the retreat of the attackers.

Richter had to lean against the wall to remain conscious. Richter was surprised at how easy it was for him to become tired. What he had just performed was nothing compared to his constant battling at the castle. In fact, that small scrimmage was nothing compared to his training when he was younger. The Belmont suddenly realized that he might not ever reach that level of physical and magical prowess again. That left Richter in quite the sour mood. Turning around, he addressed the group staring at him in shock.

"Listen, go home. Now. I've got it from here. You aren't getting an explanation on what just happened, so shut your mouths and go!"

The defending party must've sensed Richter's mood, for they all ran off without hesitation. All that was left was the monster in the corner, looking at Richter with admiration. The Belmont could only sigh as he walked up to the creature huddled against the wall. Now that he was closer, he could see the specific features of the monster. It appeared to be a humanoid bunny of sorts, wearing a small dress. It looked to be around the same age as Frisk and Asriel. Not wanting to appear weak to the small child, he put on the facade of strength.

"Hey. Didn't you hear me? Why don't you head home? It would be better than staying here. I don't know if they'll come back or not. They are probably fucking pissed at me."

Richter watched as the kid's face blanched at his blatant swearing.

"Oops! I'll have to watch my language around kids like you. I'm not used to hanging around with children yet. I'm sorry."

She shook her head at his apology.

"Thank you sir! That was awfully nice of you to help me...Were the things those men said true?"

His false-strength disappeared instantly, with him slumping back down. The Bunny-Child's voice had become shakier as she asked her question. Richter felt like his already broken heart shattered even more so. He couldn't imagine what living in a society that discriminated against one's race would be like, even more so when one was a child. Sure, people were jealous of the Belmont back in his own world, but that wasn't racism.

"Of course not! It's true that we look different, but we're surely the same in spirit. One shouldn't hate another for their differences. Now, get going to your home. I'm sure some of the locals will protect you if anything else like this happens, like what they were doing before I arrived. However, if anything gets too bad, tell Toriel. That family can handle many things."

The kid thanked Richter again and ran out of the alley, leaving the Belmont alone to his thoughts. He mentally reminded himself that he shouldn't just jump into situations like that again without knowledge of what was occurring. Sighing, he left the alley to find that that everything had seemingly gone back to normal. No village mob or anything similar. All of the shops were still open and monsters and the occasional human roamed the streets. However, something seemed out of place to Richter. It took him longer than it should have, but he finally noticed what it was.

The Cloaked Knight wasn't alone in the town square. Two strangely familiar monsters were there accompanying him. He could barely identify them at the current distance, but he could see that one was a large skeleton wearing what looked to be a tattered cape and the other was some form of fish. A very large, buff, and blue fish. Richter couldn't help but worry. The Belmont quickly rushed towards the town center, attracting the attention of all three monsters. The Cloaked Knight just nodded in Richter's direction, which was fine to the Belmont. However, he wasn't ready for the other two's reactions.

The tall skeleton had turned towards Richter and clapped his hands with glee. The buff fish creature sneered slightly and straightened her posture, stepping in front of Richter's path. Richter, attempting to stop himself from his running, only managed to make it worse. Stumbling now, he managed to tilt his falling body to the side as he landed "gracefully" on the pavement. His body was still sore from his endeavor from earlier. He could hear a female laughing, probably the fish creature. However, before he could get himself up, he was helped up by some rather bony hands.

"OH GOODNESS! ARE YOU OK HUMAN? THAT WAS QUITE A GRACEFUL TUMBLE! GOOD THING YOU HAD SUCH A MAGNIFICENT SAVIOR SUCH AS MYSELF."

Richter couldn't help but flinch at the volume of the skeleton. His voice reminded the Belmont of the Flea Men. He didn't resist the skeleton's help though. Once getting up, Richter dusted himself off before looking at his "savior". The skeleton was a head taller than Richter, wearing some sort of grey armor. Adorning the back and the neck of the skeleton was a cape of some sort. However, it didn't extend down his entire body. The skeleton's face was incredibly expressive, considering it was just a skull. He turned towards the fish creature. Wearing a black tank top with blue jeans, finished by red shoes, she looked out of place. It was an unusual change compared to how un-casual every other monster was. Either too fancy or just completely mental. Stopping himself from scorning the appearance of every monster, he reminded himself that he looked quite out of place as well.

Richter decided to say something to somewhat save face from such a fall.

"Uhh, hello. Sorry about that. I didn't expect you to step in front of me. I'm still not used to stopping once I get moving. Kinda a problem I need to work on."

"IT'S NO PROBLEM HUMAN! WE WERE JUST TALKING TO THIS REALLY COOL KNIGHT ABOUT NICE PLACES TO VISIT. HE'S NEW HERE."

The fish creature hadn't spoken yet, so Richter assumed it was fine to continue talking to the tall skeleton.

"Yeah, he's actually with me. I just had to go off for a minute or two. Say, what's your name? You look familiar. In fact, both-"

Richter indicated to the fish lady.

"-of you do."

"WOWIE! SOMEONE WHO REMEMBERS ME. I'M SORRY HUMAN THAT I DON'T REMEMBER YOU AS WELL. MY NAME IS PAPYRUS; THE GREAT PAPYRUS! THAT IS UNDYNE, MY TRAINER AND FORMER HEAD OF THE ROYAL GUARD. WHAT'S YOUR NAME, HUMAN?"

"Oh, my name's Richter. We just arrived here a week or so ago. We were just hanging out around here."

Sticking his hand out, Richter continued. Papyrus quickly shook Richter's hand before he even got the chance to speak. Richter thought his arm would be torn out of its socket due to how violently the skeleton was shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet both of you. Always helps to befriend locals."

The Belmont turned and extended his hand towards Undyne, but she just stared at him. Becoming tired of being stared at, he quickly brought it up.

"Excuse me Undyne, but is there something wrong? You haven't spoken since I've gotten here. As much as I like meeting new people, I don't really appreciate being stared at like an artifact...although I might as well be one."

That seemed to break Undyne out of whatever stupor she was in and she grabbed his hand, grip very tight.

"I like you, punk. Not afraid to speak his mind. You're awfully brave for a human. I might just end up liking you. HAH!"

With that, she let go of his now hurting hand. She pointed one of her thumbs towards the Cloaked Knight and asked,

"So, you know this guy?"

"Yeah, I've known him for years."

She managed to catch Richter winking at the knight, but she didn't understand why.

"Well that's cool. Almost all of the humans on the surface don't wear armor. Even less can float like that. You have got some pretty cool friends if you've know more like him."

"I KNOW! I CALLED UNDYNE AS FAST AS I COULD ONCE I SAW HIM. IT WAS LIKE ONE OF THOSE SHOWS YOU WATCH, UNDYNE. WHAT WERE THEY CALLED?"

He was rubbing his skull, deep in thought. That didn't last long, however, as Undyne slapped him over the head and shouted the answer.

"ANIME! It's called anime, Papyrus. I don't know as much as my friend, Alphys, does. She's the ruler of anime! THE QUEEN, EVEN! I can give you her number if you want to talk to her about that, punk."

"I THOUGHT SHE WAS YOUR GIRLFR-"

Undyne quickly muffled his mouth, hissing something into his non-existent ear. He quickly shut up at whatever she had said.

Richter was completely lost. He hadn't heard of anime before; and what was that about a number? Hiding his confusion, he shrugged off her offer.

"It's fine. Not really interested at the moment."

Looking himself over, he noticed that his satchel was missing. He began searching for it while the others began talking about someone called Mettaton. Apparently, from what they were saying, he was some sort of show host. What a show was, he had no idea. He eventually found it caught in one of the rougher shrubberies. Seeing that it wasn't getting out normally, he summoned a dagger and slowly cut it out. He didn't notice the conversation stopping. After about a minute, he got it free and put it over his shoulder. He turned around, now noticing the silence. Both Papyrus and Undyne were completely silent, their faces shocked.

"Guys, what's wrong? Did I miss something? A house fire, random explosion, Drac-"

He cut himself off. No point getting into that if they didn't need to know it. He wasn't planning on explaining everything to everybody he met. That would take his entire lifetime and then some. He looked towards the Cloaked Knight in confusion, looking for an answer.

"...The back of your tunic is torn up, Richter. We can see your bandages. All of them."

Oh shit. Richter quickly pulled his tunic off of him, mindful of the locket. Flipping it over, sure enough, he saw several slash marks. Apparently during the fight, someone managed to cut up his shirt. It was completely useless to wear around. Sighing, he just slung it over his shoulder. He would have to finally retire it. He was surprised it had lasted him this long anyway.

Neither of the monsters had spoken. Richter disliked the awkward silence and sought a solution. He knew they must've been staring at the large array of bandages covering his entire torso and some of his upper arms. Most people stared at that anyway. It's as if no one has seen someone injured before. Richter, after a quick confirmation from his Health Bar, started to take the bandages off. He assumed that having only a quarter unhealed was good enough for them to be taken off. Both of them began to freak out over Richter taking off his bandages.

"Guys, it's fine. These are old anyway. Don't tell me you haven't seen someone in bandages before."

"IT'S JUST THAT YOU SHOULD BE RESTING IF YOU HAVE BEEN HURT THIS MUCH! I CAN GET SANS TO TEACH YOU HOW IF YOU NEED TO. MY BROTHER IS GOOD AT SITING AROUND, DOING NOTHING. Yet somehow, he manages to keep multiple jobs."

The last part of the sentence was probably Papyrus's version of a mumble. Richter couldn't help but laugh. He thought it was hilarious that the lowest his voice could go was of the same volume of Richter speaking normally. He had to wait until he stopped laughing before he continued unwrapping himself.

"Yeah, punk. Even when I'm injured, I lie down for a while. I get up a day later though. I HATE sitting around. However, if I were you, I would rest or something. You looks like that one guy who bullied Frisk in front of Toriel. I've never seen the queen so angry."

Richter completely ignored what they were saying about his health. His Health Bar has never lied to the Belmont before and he was pretty sure that it wouldn't do it now. Finally finishing, he was able to see his torso in its full, and completely healed, glory. There was some light scarring in certain places, but nothing too major. Whatever Toriel had done, it worked wonders. If not for her, his body would be heavily scarred. Not that it really mattered though. He never really understood the attraction people had for muscles. To be honest, Richter found magic to be more impressive than muscles. However, Papyrus and Undyne were floored by it. Papyrus slowly leaned towards Undyne, holding a hand in front of Richter's view of his mouth, and whispered something to Undyne. Well, it wasn't much of a whisper.

"Hey, he's like one of those heroes in your anime shows! "

" _I know that, so shush!_ "

Richter had absolutely no clue as to what they were talking about. A quick glance towards the Cloaked Knight showed that he had no clue either. He quickly summoned his Stopwatch to check the time. He still didn't understand how it worked like a clock. He threw that thought aside when he realized that it was around two. He had spent too much time faffing about. He needed to get back and check on the progress of the cave. He was interrupted by Undyne, who asked an unusual question.

"Hey Victor, or whatever your name is. Do you wrestle?"

Richter wouldn't classify his fighting as wrestling. However, he didn't know what he would classify it as. It was honestly just pure combat. Nothing more or less than that.

"Honestly, no. Why?"

"Because you're pretty buff for someone who doesn't wrestle. Most humans that I've seen are total WEENIES!"

That was a fair point. Was Richter willing to reveal that he is a Master Vampire Hunter? He really didn't want to reveal his past just yet. No mater what he would say though, it would bring up questions. He eventually found a simple answer and he silently wished his future self luck.

"How about this: Come by Toriel's house and ask her about Richter Belmont's house. She can point you to my residence. I can explain everything there."

"YOU KNOW THE QUEEN, HUMAN? THAT'S AMAZING! MOST HUMANS DON'T HANG OUT WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY."

"Yeah, I met her under some strange circumstances. In fact, she's the one who wrapped the bandages. If you want to know more about that, you can ask her. I've got to head out. Schedules to keep and all that. Hey, Cloaked Knight! You can stay here if you want. I've just got to head back to the Altar. Just don't get yourself in trouble. I've already had to deal with enough of _THAT_ today anyway."

With Richter done, he headed off down the sidewalk towards the forest. As he left, the Cloaked Knight alerted both monsters of something.

"...Richter has a busy schedule to manage and he pushes himself too much. It might be nice to have some visitors sometime...I can show you the place if you want. Just remember though, he's a bit...moody... at the moment. He will pull through though"

"THAT SOUNDS LIKE FUN, MR. FLOATY SWORD KNIGHT! THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN CHEER ANYONE UP!"


	9. Chapter 8: Masking Memories

Thankfully, Richter's arrival at the house was without any failures. He didn't know if he could handle another situation like the one in the alley. Truth was, he just couldn't handle situations like that anymore since Shaft. It was as if his own ability to stifle his emotions was shattered like his will at the time. He was tempted to just leave the Vampire Killer at his house so he wouldn't have the urge to whip every single person who ticked him off. He really needed to work on that. He added it to his list of "Shit to Fix After the Village". His own emotional failures were at the bottom of the list since they didn't really matter. There wasn't anything he could do about them. Now thinking about it, Ember might be able to do something about it.

The house itself was eerily quiet when he arrived. With construction of the house completed, the only sounds that would normally be heard were the detonations and digging underneath the house. The cave itself couldn't be completely dug out by picks after all. They found Bomb Magic to be surprisingly effective for such a situation. However, he was surprised that no one had come by to file a complaint. The noise was horrendous. If Richter wasn't used to sleeping with the sounds of heavy clockwork and machinery, he doubted that he would've been able to sleep now. Yet, he still managed to keep himself alert of foreign sounds. That's if he actually slept; he still managed to sneak in and help with construction. All they would do is drag him outside the construction zone and tell him not to do it again. The process usually repeated itself several times until Richter went to another zone. The only creature who could do anything was Ember. All she had to do was grab Richter with her mouth and carry him up the stairs to his house. He never really resisted. The first time he did, he ended up being dragged up the stairs by his leg. He never thought about struggling after that. She was more stubborn than most. Hell, Richter thought she could be more determined than himself sometimes.

None of the Section Leaders arrived at the set time, which confused Richter. They hadn't been late before and all of them stressed being punctual. Well, except the Brothers. They didn't seem to care that much about arriving on time. Richter didn't blame them though. They were the most kid-like out of the entire group of leaders. It helped their collective perspective though. It was nice to occasionally relax and look at things in a fun way. Their constant bickering also served as comedic relief from their stressful schedules. In all, Richter wouldn't trade them in for anything.

An hour in, no one had showed up. Richter was becoming increasingly worried. This went beyond being late and stretched into something stopping them. Nothing had stopped them before and all of them could easily teleport to his location, if they knew where that was. It was a weird system that Lossoth hadn't completely explained to the Belmont. Giving up on thinking about the things he didn't know, he decided to stick with the things he did know. He did know one thing: If they didn't show up in the next hour, he would go find them and kick their undead asses for being late for such a long time.

Taking advantage of the clear yard and his spare time, he decided to rest in Ember's usual spot. She shared the Forest Section Leader spot with Owl Knight, so he trusted her to wake him up when they finally arrived. Sprawling across the grass under the large willow, he silently laughed to himself. Usually she was the one being mischievous. Richter thought it was about time for a little payback. It helped that the spot was quite excellent, with the spot being the only one that had efficient shade throughout the day. In all likelihood, nothing would come from him sleeping in her spot. At most, he just hoped he could be forgiven. He couldn't help but smile at his small form of revenge as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"We haven't made a complete path yet, so it can be a bit rough getting here. You'll get used to it if you visit often. We haven't had a real reason as to why to make a path since we don't get any visitors."

"Nah, it's fine! A secret mansion in the middle of the forest is COOL! Better than where I live, for sure."

The Cloaked Knight hoped that they wouldn't do anything too drastic to the house, even if they were just visitors. He had this feeling in his non-existent gut that they would be missing a few walls by the end of the night. Undyne in particular gave off the vibe of destruction. He couldn't figure out what Papyrus was learning from her. He shouldn't be too judgy though. Still, he wasn't too keen on a confrontation with Richter about why part of the house he lived in was missing. It wasn't as if they couldn't rebuild it; it was just that they didn't have the time anymore. Richter's schedule, while effective and kept everyone happy, was strenuous and tiring. The Cloaked Knight didn't know if Richter was aware that they weren't avoiding him like he assumed; they were just resting in the Altar. So when he saw one of the monsters of the surface, it served as a pleasant surprise.

Like seeing Richter's main Fire Warg curled up around the man's sleeping form under the large willow. That served as a surprise to the Cloaked Knight. His thoughts from earlier about having a soft spot for animals must've been real then. He should've expected it though. He didn't think he's ever seen Richter so embarrassed before in his entire existence. It wasn't like Richter to show himself openly resting or even relaxing, so the Cloaked Knight was instantly worried. What if the Belmont was ill? Maybe seriously injured? He didn't want to wait to find out.

The Cloaked Knight signaled the Fire Warg to get her attention, which he succeeded at. All she did was shake her head and curl back up. On closer inspection, the Cloaked Knight could see that Richter had his hands buried into her fur, completely unconscious. No wounds or signs of illness. He obviously wasn't going to be moving anywhere though. Completely forgetting about his guests, he softly tried to talk to the Warg.

"...is there something wrong with him?"

She just shook her head again and nuzzled Richter slightly. Eventually, she responded.

"(No, I just found him sleeping here. Since this was my spot, I forced him to share. He seemed to like the idea, even if he won't say it.)"

"...You've been around Richter more than most so answer this. Is this behavior normal? This doesn't seem like something he would do."

"(You'll just have to ask him that when he wakes up. We were supposed to have a meeting a few hours ago, but someone caused a cave-in. I was sent to tell Richter that we would have to have the meeting later, but he's currently sleeping...on me. So yeah, not too keen on telling him that when he's sleeping. You will ask him _later_. Not now.)"

The Cloaked Knight had to agree with her decision. He had only needed to see Richter grumpy once to know that he had seen the scariest version of Richter. He wasn't loud or violent. He just...stared at you until you basically felt like withering away. Such a different version of the day-to-day Belmont. He was jolly and quite nice to hang out with. At least, that's what he had heard. Today was the first time he got to do something with the Belmont that wasn't work related. The Cloaked Knight had noticed Richter's mood shift throughout the day. Once he got back from whatever endeavor he ran off to do, he was extremely moody. The Cloaked Knight was glad that Undyne and Papyrus had seen past that.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by a loud and boisterous voice from behind him. At the sound, the Fire Warg emitted a very faint but meaningful growl. She didn't want anyone to wake up Richter.

"WOWIE, THE HUMAN TOOK YOUR ADVICE, UNDYNE. MAYBE WE SHOULD MAKE HIM SOME SPAGHETTI TO HELP HIM FEEL BETTER. AFTER ALL, SLEEP CAN WORK WONDERS, BUT MY CULINARY MASTERPIECES ARE PERFECT FOR A TIRED BODY!"

Papyrus must've not known that Richter was a light sleeper when it came to a foreign sound. A very light sleeper. His training taught him to be able to get up at a moment's notice incase of danger or etc. The Cloaked Knight was surprised that he hadn't woken up by his conversation with the Fire Warg. He must've already accepted the Cloaked Knight's voice as a normal occurrence. However, the speed at which he bolted up and pulled out his Flail-Whip was impressive. It would have been more impressive if he hadn't fallen over the now irritated Fire Warg. The Cloaked Knight could see the now standing Richter's eyes scanning the area and his left hand tensing, as if readying a sub-weapon. After seeing it was just Papyrus and Undyne, he slowly relaxed. He put up the Vampire Killer and sighed.

Richter couldn't exactly figure out why he wasn't angry at the sudden awakening. Normally he would be grumpy as hell(His grumpy was practically hell anyway). Undyne was laughing her ass off and Papyrus had both hands over his mouth as if embarrassed. Ember was still around the Belmont, muzzle softly nudging his left leg as a sign to relax. The Cloaked Knight was staring at Richter, helmet slightly tilted. Richter took that as a sign of confusion. He must've been thinking the same thing Richter was. Giving him a simple shrug, the Belmont sat back down with Ember. She gave a soft hum of contentment as he sunk one of his hands into the ruff of her neck. She was ungodly soft, compared to the pelts of the wolves back in his world. Richter, after finally steadying his heart, decided to speak.

"Papyrus, it's ok. You don't need to feel bad. I needed to wake up anyway. A meeting was supposed to be here today. I'll talk to Ember about it in a minute. Cloaked Knight, you need to be ready soon. I'm assuming we will be getting to your section in the next few weeks. Why don't you lead them into the house while I discuss the meeting? I'll be joining you after that."

Papyrus didn't take his hands off of his mouth, even when being pushed inside the house. Undyne was still laughing, but somehow managed to practically carry Papyrus. The Cloaked Knight just shook his head from confusion. Either Richter was becoming soft, or he was hiding something. He didn't want to have a midnight lecture like the one time someone overlooked building the last step to the Trophy Room. Richter had spent a few hours looking for the poor Dhuron's head. It was the strangest game of Marco-Polo the Cloaked Knight had ever seen, or heard.

With the rest gone, Richter turned slightly towards Ember. She was just staring at the entrance of the house, muzzle pulled into a silent snarl. Richter softly smacked her nose before speaking.

"Just because you're allowed to do this doesn't give you the right to maul anyone you want to. You should know better."

Whining softly, she slowly lowered her head between her paws.

"(That skeleton is too loud. It's out of place here and he woke you up!)"

Richter receded his hand and went into full-glare mode. She pulled back slightly at the Belmont's gaze.

"It's not your job to worry about me. We have to adjust to creatures like him anyway. As well as that, I needed to be woken up. It's fine, ok?"

"(But you need rest!)"

All he could do was rub his temples with his fingers. He needed to talk to his guests and if he continued arguing, they would have to wait for a long time. He just had to give up.

"How about this: I'll rest early tonight. Is that fine? Now, to save time, mind telling me why the meeting was cancelled?"

Ember leaned against Richter's side at his surrender and began to explain.

"(Someone thought it was a good idea to bomb the ceiling alone without the adviser. Caused a cave-in that we've spent all day cleaning. It happened early this morning and we couldn't find you. We have to push the meeting to next week due to cleanup.)"

The Belmont took a few moments to take all of the information in. Those results probably weren't intended and none of the creatures meant ill will, so there was no need to act harshly. The Section Leaders must've chewed out whoever did it, so Richter wasn't necessary. He wasn't needed in the situation since he wasn't allowed to assist with the construction. Dusting himself off, the Belmont got up from his spot next to the Fire Warg. He had reached his decision.

"Well, at least I know about it. If it has been taken care of, then I don't have to interfere. I'm glad that I don't. I already had to save someones ass today and I don't think I want to do it again. Even if it's family."

Well, he would do it for family no matter what, be he wasn't going to admit that. Ember didn't have to read Richter's internal thoughts to figure that out.

"I've got to talk to our guests anyway. You can come with me if you want. Or, you can finally enjoy your spot now that I'm gone. It's up to you."

Richter didn't wait for a response and headed inside. He could hear a soft growl being emitted from Ember. The reason remained unknown to the Belmont.

* * *

Two broken tables, a shattered clock, several knocked over suits of armor, and one mentally scarred Skelerang later, Undyne and Papyrus left. Despite all of the broken furniture, Richter found the experience to be worth it. He hadn't had that much fun talking in his entire life. Other than his history, the topics never got too serious. The most serious was Undyne wondering if it was possible to catch a Skelerang's boomerangs and throw it back at him. She ended up throwing the boomerangs so fast that they nearly decapitated the skeleton. Needless to say, it was horrifying for the poor Skelerang. Undyne kept on mentioning something about anime, which confused the hell out of Richter. Apparently, anime was something like visual stories involving "fantasy" characters who looked and acted like Richter. He made a mental note to talk to the Alphys person later. She apparently was similar to the Librarian when it came to knowledge. Richter assumed she was an ancient creature surrounded by rows and rows of tomes. In fact, he was tempted to possibly invite the Librarian whenever he went to meet her. They could learn from the monsters more so than trying to learn alone. Another thing he wanted to learn how to make was the "Spaghetti of Papyrus". He never stopped talking about it, so Richter assumed it must've been of godlike quality. If not, he would be severely disappointed.

After fixing the broken clock(he simply refused to replace it), he found himself without anything to do. He hadn't seen Ember or the Cloaked Knight anywhere. Maybe the Fire Warg actually stayed in her spot under the tree. Richter wouldn't blame her if she did; it was an excellent spot after all. Looking at the now fixed clock, he saw that it was around eight. He did tell the Warg that he would rest early. He wasn't known to be to go against his word. He had managed to build a decent and trustworthy relationship with the monsters of the castle and he wasn't keen on destroying it all because he didn't want to go to sleep. Richter had no reasons to avoid sleep. The nightmare he had the night prior was hopefully a one time thing and he didn't have dreams. There wasn't anything for him to do anymore other than supervise. In a way, he wished he forced himself into more of the work. He knew that they wouldn't appreciate it though. They saw him as a very grumpy foreman when it came to work and he didn't want their opinions of them to get worse. He didn't mean to get so...ticked. It was just that there wasn't a simple way for the Belmont to resolve the problem. He had to work or he would be frustrated, but working eventually makes him tired. Being tired makes him angry with himself for showing weakness, pissing him off. The monsters didn't want him to be grumpy, so they forced him out of the working. Either way, he would eventually become cross. Everything would sort itself out once the project was completed. He knew that such a project is going to take a while though. At least it was better than being in a constant life-or-death scenario.

Sighing for the sixteenth time that day, he grabbed his blue overcoat by the door. It was probably one of the few articles of clothing from being controlled by Shaft that he actually liked. Shaft cared about the color, surprisingly, so it wasn't a horrendous mess like his hair was. Richter was the first Belmont to care about his appearance. It was one of the main reasons why he wouldn't put on armor. Not that he would admit it. His public excuse was that it slowed him down. Since he didn't look for another shirt, the overcoat would be his only protection from the cold other than magic. The weather outside wasn't harsh enough to merit the use of magic, so there wasn't much he could really do.

He was able to confirm his suspicions outside. Ember had indeed stayed in her spot under the tree. From the fallen leaves, it was as if she hadn't left at all. She didn't take notice of Richter's exit of the house. Only once he was in whipping distance did she finally pay any attention; slight movement of her head was all he got. He assumed she was pouting for some unknown reason. He knelt down slightly which resulted in her turning her head further. She was definitely pouting now.

"Come on now. I invited you inside. You don't have to get all pouty. If I didn't care, I wouldn't have come out here; it's cold anyway. Scoot over."

Without allowing her to refute, he flopped on top of the Warg. Grabbing handfuls of her fur, the Belmont was prepared for what she was about to throw at him; that being her trying to shake him off violently. After about a minute, she just slumped down on the ground and gave up. Richter slowly climbed onto her back and sunk into her fur. He embraced the warmth that naturally radiated from the Fire Warg. Despite Ember's mood, she allowed it. From what she saw, he was only wearing his overcoat for upper body protection. She knew he never really cared about himself when he was worried about someone else. The least she could do is allow him to be comfortable.

"So, what's wrong? Heh, normally you're the one asking ME that question. So, come on; fess up here."

She didn't want to tell him about what had happened after he left. If she did, she doubted that he would stay in the position he was in. Then again, it does involve Richter and lying is considered a major offense. He trusted her with his secrets, so she finally accepted that she should do the same.

"(So, something happened after you left. Cloaked Knight came up to me and we talked for a bit.)"

Richter's gut instinct was telling him to bail, but he considered such a reaction to be rude.

"What did you guys talk about?"

"(That's the thing; You. He was concerned about seeing you openly resting in front of the public. I told him it was actually normal and that we just hyped you up to be some sort of god. That's when he told me something...particular.)"

His instinct was getting stronger. He was 99% sure he knew exactly what Cloaked Knight had told Ember. Burying his face in between her shoulder blades, he grumbled from exasperation. It was practically impossible to keep a secret from the Altar's population. He should've expected that it would happen eventually. He just didn't know it would happen so soon. Richter thought he was falling apart too early.

"(He told me about something you were thinking and feeling at that one bar during your trip to the town.)"

Turning her head in an attempt to see Richter, she continued.

"(Why didn't you tell me you had a soft spot for animals? Now thinking about it, you almost did in the Caverns. Too embarrassed to say it? I think it's adorable. I just wish you trusted me more to tell me about it.")

He just audibly groaned. Ember finally found out. She was probably going to tell her some of the other inhabitants. They would tell others and it would spread throughout the Altar. Everyone would know of another weakness of Richter. He kept on failing to act like the leader he needed to be. He couldn't allow himself to show weakness, no matter how petty or extreme. The one time he showed weakness was the time Shaft took over. Shaft had managed to prey on Richter's one inner desire at the time. He couldn't allow that to repeat, even if Shaft was gone. He just got a fresh start; a new life. He couldn't, nay _wouldn't_ allow himself to repeat his old mistakes.

"(Richter, come on. Richter. RICHTER!)"

Snapping himself out of his mental train of self-depreciation, he turned his attention to the Fire Warg. She had somehow gotten Richter off her back and was directly facing him. One paw was on one of Richter's leg, while the other nervously pawed at the ground.

"(Hey, listen. I'm sorry. I didn't know talking about this would bring him up. We can stop if you want to.)"

Growling at himself, he decided to actually talk about it. He didn't know why he would want to. It must've been something about the Warg. Damn her! He couldn't figure out why he was allowing her to get close. If his assumptions were real, then everyone close would soon end up like Annette.

"Fuck it. Let's get started on talking about this shit show."

He took a deep breath, collecting all of the negative emotions inside his soul; allowing them to swell and overtake everything else. He didn't need to be positive where he was going. He couldn't allow himself to hesitate. No more hiding. She was the only being he could talk to.

"Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to hide your own weaknesses knowing that when you reveal them, the world you know could change dramatically? The last time I even had a desire, it was preyed upon and used as a weapon against myself and my loved ones. I know Shaft isn't here now, but I constantly have this feeling that I'm about to break the peace. It's as if everything is made of fucking glass and simply relaxing will cause it all to shatter! I can't deal with this daily! I JUST CAN'T!"

Quickly standing up, Richter began to vent his frustration into one of the nearby trees. Emphasizing every point with a punch; both his knuckles and the tree began to break as he continued ranting. Ember didn't dare stop him.

"It's as if this is my punishment for allowing myself to be MANIPULATED by Shaft. I'm in the PERFECT world with the BEST people. I've got a goal that will better the lives of potentially thousands. Only thing FUCKING stopping me is myself. I can't allow myself to lower my guard. My training and my past mistakes force me to never allow myself to DO-THAT-AGAIN! "

Richter's knuckles broke first. Screaming out in frustration and pain, he dashed through the tree. It slowly fell behind him as he just stared at the floor. The Fire Warg could see tears slowly flow down his face and into the dirt; mixed with the blood coming from his hands.

"I don't want to give this up, but every time I wake up, I get this feeling that everything's a dream; under control by Shaft to make me believe I'm doing something good when I'm killing millions."

He fell to his knees, hanging his head low. He slowly tore parts of the overcoat into bandages and wrapped up his broken fists. His voice was shaky now; broken up by sobs.

"The worst thing about all of this is that I have to hide it. I have to hide my insecurities and desires for the better of everyone. I can't allow anyone to know about what I'm going through. If they found out, they could be affected. I have to put of this facade of happiness and oftentimes, I believe my own lies. I often lose myself in my own web of masks. I shouldn't be like this...but I am."

He tried to steady his breathing as he continued to bind the makeshift bandages. He had liked that coat. No point in getting attached to anything thought if it all could change. Ember cautiously approached Richter. She didn't want him to be set off again. If everything he said was true, then something had to be done. He had managed to mentally get himself into a situation that couldn't be resolved alone. If he wouldn't believe himself, he would believe her. At least, that's what the Fire Warg hoped.

As she slowly curled around the Belmont, she attempted to console him.

"(Richter, you need to stop and listen to yourself. You killed Shaft completely. You kicked his ass so hard that he will be forever stuck in whatever hell you sent him to. You don't have to pretend for our safety. If we ever have to, we can save you from yourself. I'm pretty sure the Librarian knows a way to break us from your commands if you ever go rogue. No matter how powerful you are, you're human. We aren't. We can kill you eventually if we need to. So just live your life. This isn't a dream. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't embarrass yourself in a dream considering how prideful you are. You just need to accept that it's over. All you have to worry about now is building the relationship between us and the monsters here. So shhhhh... It'll be fine.)"

Ember, to reinforce her point of them being here for him, placed her head into his lap. She didn't know what to do about his now broken knuckles though. Maybe magical food. That or Toriel.

At her show of comfort, Richter finally broke completely. Wrapping his hands around her muzzle, he sobbed onto her head. He subconsciously stressed very sob by clutching some of her fur. He wanted to believe everything she had said; he truly did. However, it was so hard for him to just suddenly accept something of such a drastic level. Richter was aware that Ember was reading his thoughts. He didn't try to stop it though. She had gotten close enough to see ALL of him, not just his public appearance. It didn't mean he wouldn't try to enjoy his life though. He just wished that no one else had to deal with his own problems. He wasn't given enough time to reflect though, for he could hear Undyne traipsing through the forest. What she wanted at a time like this, he didn't know. He never got a break from anything. Rapidly changing emotions probably wasn't good for his health.

"(We'll talk about this later then. Just remember that you don't have to protect anybody anymore. There isn't a threat to this world. At least, not one created by you. We will be there to protect if it ever comes to that though. Now go. I'll be here in case something goes wrong.)"

Ember nudged him up until he was completely standing, then took a few steps back from where she was. Undyne could be a bit rambunctious and she didn't want someone to trip over her for the second time. He subconsciously felt himself put on another "mask" as he slowly approached where Undyne was wrecking havoc. It wasn't hard to actually find her. The amount of noise was absurd considering it was coming from one creature. He found it like the underground detonations times ten.

"HEY NERD! GET OVER HERE!"

Richter could only oblige. Undyne had somehow gotten herself stuck in some of the brambles. Using a magical blue spear, she cut herself out why speaking. Richter would've helped her out, but his knuckles were currently broken. He felt somewhat useless in the situation. Perhaps it was a good thing though for the Belmont. He didn't have to worry about causing any trouble. It wasn't like he was going to do so, it was just a mental reassurance.

"Good, there you are. I was worried I would have to bust into your house to talk to you. "

He knew she was being serious.

"Listen, I just came to invite you to this thing we're doing some training at Toriel's house. The kid wouldn't stop bugging me until I finally came here to invite you. So, want to join us?"

She bowed her head in thought before suddenly jerking it up; her eyes showing a playful fury that made Richter want to hide. Whatever she was about to say next, he wasn't going to be happy with it. Undyne's version of fun was a lot more violent than what the Belmont imagined.

"HEY! I know something we can do at her house. The back is pretty open, so we could do some fighting! Didn't you say that you used to be Vampire Hunter? A pretty damn good one based off of all that bragging. How about we have a small scrimmage? Excellent training and I know everyone will be impressed. It's not often I can find a human who has the guts to actually fight."

"Sorry, but I've got stuff to do."

"COME ON, YOU WEENIE! IT WILL BE AWESOME!"

"I really can't! Today's meeting was cancelled and I have to work on planning the next one and all that. Maybe the next time."

Richter knew what he said was a dramatic over-exaggeration, but he hoped Undyne didn't know it. It wasn't that he didn't want to attend. Hell no, in fact, Richter really wanted to relax. He wasn't so sure on dueling Undyne, but everything else sounded fine. That's if he could trust himself to do so. He just didn't want to deal with people at the moment. He found it hard to socialize when battling his own inner demons...literally in a sense.

Undyne couldn't hide the disappointment. It would've been the first time she got to have a proper battle in years. Almost no one would actually fight her. She couldn't get too violent when it came to training with Papyrus and Toriel wouldn't allow Frisk to train with her. The humans on the surface were a bunch of softies without actual muscle, so she found them to be completely boring. Once she had first seen Richter in his anime looking gear, she knew he might be fun to fight. His blatant bragging later in his house helped confirm her suspicions. From what that monster girl had told her, Richter was heroic and brave as well. She couldn't figure out why he suddenly changed though. There was something off about him at the moment. She gave up trying to figure it out and turned to leave; trudging forward back to Toriel's house where everyone was. Before leaving earshot, she decided to leave with the final word.

"You know, a certain kid came by and told me a man clad in blue came by and rescued her from a rowdy group of humans. That wouldn't have been you, would it?"

She left almost immediately after. She knew she had hit a nerve when she heard the Belmont jump with surprise. He wasn't as sneaky as he thought. Richter reached up to grab his head, but he had to stop himself. He mentally reminded himself to deal with his broken knuckles before going anywhere. Turning around, he found Ember accompanied by Salome. She was arranging some medical herbs and bandages, looking expectantly at Richter's hands. Deciding against his better judgement, he bailed and chased after Undyne. He would rather be lectured by Toriel than deal with having his hand being sewn up. Magic would help more than anything else.

Richter was still trying to figure out how he was going to explain how he broke his knuckles to Toriel when he finally caught up with Undyne. She wasn't surprised in the slightest by his appearance by her side. However, she was surprised by his _appearance_. Finally near streetlights, she could see the remains of his destroyed overcoat and his bandaged and bloodied knuckles. His eyes were sunken in, as if he were crying. Why he would be crying baffled Undyne. She could understand why Frisk would cry, but not a grown adult male; especially a fully adult male fighter. Maybe someone he knew died or something. Undyne wasn't going to pry in his business. Warrior's code after all.

The Belmont was glad that Undyne didn't comment on his appearance. However, he knew he would have to bring up the knuckles. It was going to be almost impossible to get through the night without doing anything about them. As much as he hated relying on people when it came to his health, he didn't have a choice. He could tell that Undyne really wanted to fight. If she wanted a fight, Richter needed both of his hands to work perfectly. Fighting without them was somewhat hard. He couldn't rely on his dashes and kicks for the entire battle. He wasn't built for that. That was more of Maria's domain. She used her familiars and her kicks to down enemies at an incredible rate. Richter was honestly surprised. She was incredibly talented when Richter first started training her. She was much faster than Richter and used her speed to her advantage. He hoped she was utilizing her training well and surviving. When it came to the Hunter-Gatherer System, she was more of the gatherer. She had the ability to spot things that hundreds of people couldn't see, even if they were staring right at it. Richter was sure she could be an amazing hunter, but she refused to injure any animals. Thus, it became Richter's job to hunt for the village.

Richter hadn't realized that Undyne had stopped until he was forcefully pulled backwards by her. Blinking, he quickly took in his surroundings. He had subconsciously followed Undyne to Toriel's house. Undyne was staring at Richter worriedly. He realized she was saying something.

"Hey, Richter. Human, come on. DON'T TUNE ME OUT!"

Her yelling finally got his full attention; not before jumping a foot into the air though.

"Wha...what? What's wrong?"

Sighing, she slowly rubbed her face with her hands. It was only then did Richter notice that she had an eyepatch over her left eye. Why hadn't he noticed that before?

"Dude, don't do that again. Thought you were going to keep on walking until you fell off a cliff or something. I've been trying to get your attention for the past few minutes."

The Vampire Hunter was surprised that she actually cared. They had just met after all. Mentally punching himself, he knew he had to start being more trusting.

"Oh...Sorry about that. I've got a lot to deal with, you know? Managing an entire population of monsters is ungodly stressful."

That wasn't the exact reason why he was spacing out, but it was close enough.

"HAH! That's all? You've got to toughen up then. Speak to Asgore about it. He had been managing the Underground for QUITE a long time. Now, ready to have some fun?"

"Sure. Actually, ca-"

Undyne had almost made it inside before someone had grabbed her. She would've kept moving if it wasn't for the gasp of pain that came from behind her. Turning around, she saw Richter curled over, cradling both of his hands. She soon saw why he was in pain. His knuckles were practically shattered. Whatever he had done, he managed to fuck them up incredibly. Did she miss a fight or something?

"Jeez, what did you do to your hands? I didn't know it was THIS bad. You might want to get Toriel to look at them. That's probably not healthy."

Hissing through his teeth from the pain, he barely managed to respond. It felt like his hands were being crushed by Galamoth's staff. He couldn't get the pain to stop. He really shouldn't have grabbed Undyne as she went inside. What made it worse was that he had wanted to stop her to ask about his hands.

"...NOW!"

Thankfully, someone inside had heard them talking. The door opened and out stepped a very excited Asriel. His mood immediately changed once seeing Richter nearly keeling over from the pain. He stepped back inside and yelled for someone. Next thing Richter knew, he was being guided towards a couch. The pain finally began to subside for the Belmont as he sat down. Whatever he had pulled when he grabbed Undyne, he wouldn't do it again. He wouldn't even dare move his hands until he managed to get them treated. Thank god for magic, he thought.

"I'll have to remove the bandages for this to work, Richter. This will be VERY painful, but just sit through it. I don't know what happened and I don't want to know. Now sit still."

A very frustrated Toriel knelt across from him, slowly taking of his bandages. He had blocked his senses, so he didn't feel anything. In fact, he was pretty sure he had zoned out again. With the bandages off, he got a good look at his mangled hands. He was sure that bones weren't supposed to be jutting out like a pair of Brass Knuckles.

"Undyne, get the kids out of the Living Room and take them to Papyrus. I don't want anyone to see this."

Richter didn't feel that she was overreacting. His hands were horrific. He was surprised that he hadn't passed out from the pain already. Toriel must've been on the same wavelength, for she quickly brought it up.

"Nevermind what I said earlier, what did you do to your hands? This is very bad. Your hands are in critical condition."

Richter tried to open his mouth, but ended up with nothing. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't speak. He must've completely disconnected himself. The closest he got was him signalling his hands with his head.

"Don't move, Richter! You can explain later then. I'll have to get started now. If not, I don't think magic will be able to save your hands."

* * *

Undyne couldn't help but watch as Toriel slowly healed Richter's hands. She doubted that anyone would find out what happened to them. Richter seemed to be the kind of warrior who didn't care about his injures, so he wouldn't consider mentioning it to anyone else. They just served as reminders of past battles. She could understand his angle. He wasn't phased by the scarring on his chest and back. He did indeed look like the main hero from several Adventure Anime. He had the same confident and brash attitude most of heroes in the show had. From what he had said about his past, it would be possible to make a season or two based off of his adventures. Alphys would flip out if she met him. She couldn't help but sigh softly at the lack of her girlfriend. It didn't matter the situation; her nervous habits made everything better. She would probably be going down the list of shows that had the name Richter or something. She could always get so enveloped into her hobbies. Undyne loved her for that.

She was taken from her thoughts by someone tugging on her shirt. Looking down, she could see a very worried Frisk staring expectantly up at her. Frisk must've known that no one was allowed to go into the Living Room while Richter's mangled appendages were being dealt with. Undyne hadn't directly said anything about them not being allowed to go in.

"Is he going to be ok? I can't go in there, so it must be pretty bad."

"Aww, punk. He's going to be fine. Don't be such a softie. He's probably tougher than any of us. He managed to stomach that much pain before even getting here, then he must be resilient. I'm pretty sure no other human could survi-"

She was interrupted by a loud huff from Frisk. He was pouting.

"Sorry, I guess I'm not helping. Point is, he will be fine. Didn't he arrive here in worse shape?"

Frisk nodded, indicating to their entire body.

"All of his body was covered with blood and burns. It was bad."

"Yeah, if he can get through that, then this will be easy. Hey, let's go check on the Bone Bros. Poor Asriel must be dealing with SO many puns."

Undyne could barely catch up with the speeding Frisk. If she could just convince him to join track once he got older, he would be a champion.

* * *

Richter slowly tensed and untensed his hands, testing to see if they were functioning correctly. Somehow, Toriel had managed to completely heal his knuckles. Richter didn't know what to do about the blood he had lost. He assumed he would be fine if he just sat down for a while. Toriel was completely exhausted from the ordeal. Richter's hands had been worse than their appearance. Internal fractures and bone fragments were a large problem. If she hadn't done anything, Richter would've lost his hands. She still hadn't received an answer from Richter as to what he did. In fact, he hadn't spoken at all. Head gestures were the only thing she got from the Belmont. She felt that she deserved to know what happened in case she could stop it from happening again. She hoped he didn't get into a fight. If he did get into a fight, it must've been with a wall or something.

"Now that you have full control of your hands, mind telling me what you did to them? I'm surprised you let this happen to you if it was a fight. I just can't be your personal infirmary. This is the third time you've shown up at my house injured."

Richter didn't know exactly how he wanted to respond. He could tell her the truth, but that would open a can of Flea Men that he would rather leave closed. Well, at least for the moment. He couldn't directly lie to her for multiple reasons. That only left him giving a half-truth/half-lie answer that he hated receiving himself. Suddenly, the Belmont remembered what Ember had told him about living his life. That meant no more hiding things. After a few moments, he responded.

"My past. My past fucking happened, Toriel. I'm just dealing with the shock waves now."

Tutting, she waggled her finger at Richter. She was glad that she had gotten him to speak, but she had to deal with the most pressing issue first. Just because he was a guest didn't mean he could be an exception.

"Watch your language, young man. This is a no swearing household. I will have you know that we have a Swear Jar here. Next time you curse, you have to donate a gold coin. It's the rules."

Richter was in a surprised stupor. He hadn't expected her to say that in the slightest. Trying to stop himself from laughing failed as he rolled around, amused by the absurdity of it.

"I'm glad to see you in higher spirits, Richter. I try my hardest to keep everyone here positive. It's much easier now that we've been here for a year. When we first arrived, all of the humans were so grim. Frisk did so much to help the humans understand that we aren't a threat and we just want to live peacefully. So, is there anything in your past that you want to talk about?"

He truly appreciated how willing they were to help him, but he wasn't willing to talk about it yet. He would probably talk to Ember again before anyone else. After her, well...He might talk to Asgore. Undyne did recommend him after all. If he was the ruler of the Underground, then he must've had some method of dealing with the constant stress. Kings always knew how to remain calm and collected; something that baffled Richter when he was a kid.

"Nah, not right now. I'm just glad that my hands are working now. I don't know what I would've done without them."

Smiling, Toriel got up and headed towards the kitchen. Richter could hear her call out to him.

"I would say that having working hands would be...HANDY!"

He could hear laugh at her own pun. He just quickly walked away before he would be subjected to more of her awful puns. His destination: Wherever Asriel was. He had looked so worried about Richter when he had spotted him at the doorstep and the Belmont wanted to show the monster that he was fine. Good thing it wasn't hard for him to actually find the child. All of the rooms but one were silent. The one that wasn't, however, partially blocked what sounded to be a full on war. Tumbling and yells could be heard. Richter just laughed to himself. He remembered when he used to be a kid and roughhousing was a big part of it. Even after his training started, he would get with the Blacksmith's son and try to see who had improved more over the week. Then those weeks became months. Richter never saw him after a year long period. He never found out what had happened to the kid. The Blacksmith wouldn't say anything to Richter, even when on his deathbed. The Blacksmith was willing to take what had happened to his grave. No one ran the forge after his death. All the armor and weapons they got were from other towns. Richter remembered that someone had said the family, and in a way, the forge was cursed. Why, he never knew.

The moment Richter knocked was when things got rough. The door immediately opened and a small hand reached to grab him. Reacting instinctively, he backflipped and pulled out one of his Boomerang Crosses. Cursing himself, he put the Sub-Weapon up and looked down at his "assailant". It was a surprised Frisk, hand still outstretched. He kept on switching from looking at the ceiling and Richter.

"Sorry about that Frisk. My training's deeply rooted in my psyche. Nothing I can do about it."

The kid quickly retreated back inside and shut the door. Richter could hear some muffled talking and someone heading towards the door. Not without knocking something over, of course. The door suddenly opened and a smiling Undyne stood in the doorway. Her smile was freakishly large, with it going above eye to eye. To Richter, it was more like above eye to eyepatch.

"Good! You're ready for the training! I've been practicing with Papyrus. He's getting better, but he's still a WIMP compared to me."

She turned back towards the room and looked at someone.

"Aren't you, Papyrus?"

The Belmont could hear a very muffled and meek response.

"Please, Undyne...No more "Noogie the Skeleton."

"TAKE IT LIKE A MAN PAPYRUS! If you want to impress the humans, you've got to be tough like ME!"

She turned back, facing Richter.

"Let's get started then! Asgore should've finished setting up the chairs out in the yard. It's going to get dark soon. IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME!"

Without waiting for a response, Undyne rushed out of the room. He assumed she was honestly excited for whatever was about to happen. Richter peered into the room. It was a total mess. Pillows and blankets littered the floor, with a very tired looking skeleton on the ground. His normally perfectly white skull was covered with scuff marks. On the large bed in the corner was Frisk, Asriel, and Sans. Frisk waved at Richter while Asriel tried to get Papyrus up. Sans, after inspecting Richter's ruined overcoat, spoke.

"sup? don't get too **torn** up over my bro. he can handle her atomic noogies."

Asriel fell on top of Papyrus from laughing while Frisk groaned. Like how he dealt with Toriel, Richter bailed. Hopefully Richter's appearance was enough reassurance for Asriel. Richter wasn't one for puns anyway. Heading past the living room and into the kitchen, he opened the screen door and left. He saw that Undyne was right; it was getting dark. Good thing some of his magic created glows. However, he assumed that he wouldn't be using his magic during the battle. It might make it a bit unfair considering that Richter was far more advanced than Undyne. Asgore and Toriel were sitting in the chairs, which were arranged in a horseshoe pattern around the edge of the yard. He couldn't find Undyne. Richter was surprised by how large their yard was. He thought that it would've been smaller, like the rest of their house. He was happy to be wrong. His style of fighting, that was allowed, meant having some distance to move and dodge. His magic and the Vampire Killer were used in close quarters. However, he was pretty sure that using them was forbidden.

Toriel waved him over and he obliged.

"Are you sure you're up to this? Your hands were just healed after all."

Asgore decided to warn Richter about a threat to his health.

"As well as that, Undyne is a very competent fighter. You might be outclas-"

Richter didn't allow him to finish. He didn't actually say anything, of course. He thought that would've been rude. What Richter did to stop Asgore from finishing was laugh. It was an involuntary reaction. Asgore clearly hasn't seen him fight in his prime before. Richter started to hype himself up for the small battle. He would finally be able to show that they didn't have to worry so much about him.

"Sorry, but you just wait. I'm a Belmont for a reason. Other than birth, of course. You'll be quite amazed. In fact, both of you will."

The screen door opened and out came the rest of the group; Sans at the back. They all took their seats. Frisk and Asriel were vibrating from excitement. Papyrus was trying to muffle Sans to stop his...pillow puns. Thinking about it, Richter thought it might be fair to bring in his own audience. They also served as guards for the rest of the monsters in case Richter turned rogue. Turning back towards Toriel and Asgore, he asked them.

"Hey, mind if I add to the audience? I've got some friends who would love to see this. They won't cause too much trouble."

Asgore just nodded. With confirmation, Richter pinged a few monsters he knew who might enjoy watching the battle. After a minute or so, they all arrived. Gurkha and Blade arrived first with Hammer being a close second. Ember took the longest. Richter didn't exactly invite her to see the fight, but more of moral support in case he went mental. Hammer spoke first.

"Aww, cool! I was wondering if that lady was ever going to challenge you."

Adjusting his hammer on his shoulder and lightly punching Gurkha, he continued.

"Lighten up brother! You'll get to see Richter fight someone who ISN'T US! Think about it! You get to cheer the main man himself. Blade, what do you think?"

"I think that Gurkha should learn how to enjoy opportunities like this. It'll be amazing for sure. Hey goat dudes, mind if we join you?"

Toriel just nodded, trying to suppress a giggle from their brotherly arguments. As they joined them, Ember trudged up to Richter and nudged his hands.

"(How are they?)"

Whispering, he responded.

"They're fine. Toriel somehow pulled off a miracle with her magic. If it wasn't for her, my hands would be gone. I'm going to so burn that tree when I get home."

"(Bit late for that. The Altar absorbed it.)"

"Then I'm going to summon it and destroy it as many times as I can. The thing broke my HANDS!"

"(Correction: You broke your hands on IT. You know, you could've allowed us to at least bandage it up before you left. Salome was severely disappointed.)"

"What can I say; Undyne invited me and I couldn't refuse."

"(But I heard you say that you-)"

Richter pressed his hand against her muzzle, although he knew it wouldn't do anything. She got the message and switched topics.

"(I'm just glad you're back to being...you.)"

With that, she walked over to where Frisk was and sat decided to lay there. Richter turned towards Asgore and asked about something that had been bugging him since he entered the yard.

"Asgore, where is Undyne? Shouldn't she be here?"

Right as he finished his sentence, the screen door slammed open with enough force to shatter it. The sound of glass was accompanied by heavy metal plates scraping against each other. Out stepped Undyne in her heavy plate armor. The left eye in the helmet was covered with a small sheet of metal. She looked like she belonged in Richter's trophy room. The Brothers playfully booed Undyne when she appeared.

"READY TO FIGHT, PUNK? DON'T HOLD BACK! MAGIC, WEAPONS; WHATEVER! LET'S GO!

She punctuated her "go" by throwing one of her blue magical spears. Richter slid underneath it and rolled out of the way as she buried another where he finished sliding. He was caught by complete surprise. It was probably that surprise that caused him to launch several axes towards Undyne after getting off the ground. She quickly deflected them with the end of one of her magical spear. Richter remembered that there was an easy way to deal with enemies who could deflect his projectiles. Conjuring a few flasks of Holy Water, he waited until Undnye was close. She got close fast, Richter found. He wasn't liking how close Undyne's fighting style brought her. Nearly being impaled by her jab with a spear, he flipped over her and launched the flasks. She dove to the side as the Holy Water surprisingly released waves of Blue Holy Fire. She instinctively recoiled as the Holy Fire spread in her general direction. As she flailed about, Richter flanked her and took a quick swing with the Vampire Killer. She still managed to deflect the hit with her spear, before tossing it at Richter. He certainly didn't like that she also had a very competent ranged attack.

A blue light spread underneath Richter's feet and several spears jutted out of the ground. The remains of his overcoat were caught in the spears. Undyne quickly took advantage of his entrapment and wound up a punch. He deflected the blow with his forearms, which sent him several feet backwards. His arms hurt like hell and he now had nothing to protect his chest. With Undyne quickly running towards Richter, he had to think of something. He decided to use one of his heavy combos to give him some space from her. He wasn't used to how direct and projectile heavy she was. He needed to give himself some space to pull off a counter plan to her spears. Richter usually dashed through projectiles, but he couldn't dash consecutively that many times without tiring. She just wasn't giving him time to react. Every time he would get up, she was there with another attack.

Richter left himself visibly open to lure Undyne; he acted like he was preparing a spell. Undyne quickly ran towards Richter, spear raised. Richter smiled as she fell directly into his trap. He dashed through Undyne, sending her sprawling backwards. Quickly turning around, he Ultimate Uppercutted her upwards before she could recover. Cheers erupted from the Brothers as Undyne started to falll twenty-something feet. Richter didn't fall with her, however. He was levitating off of the ground due to the Item Crash he was about to use. Yelling the name of crash, he began.

"GRAND CROSS!"

A bright beam of light surrounded Richter and reached towards the sky; seemingly never ending. A large magical cross, the size of several wagons, erupted from the ground and impacted with Undyne as she fell. She found herself launched across the lawn and over the fence. Softly touching down, Richter looked at the damage of the battle thus far. The Grand Cross hadn't disturbed the ground and none of her spears had caused significant damage to the fence. All Richter could do was wait. He noticed that everyone was staring at him with shocked faces. Frisk and Sans were talking about something, although he didn't know what. The Brothers were just laughing quietly at their surprise. They had fought Richter before, so they were used to him pulling out powerful combos out of nowhere.

Richter had to kneel down for a second to catch his breath. He forgot that he didn't have the stamina he used to ever since killing Shaft the second time. Right as we was finally breathing normally, the the fence was smashed open by a furious Undyne. Her helmet was quickly thrown at Richter, which he reflexively whipped. It exploded into several fragments of metal. He surrounded Undyne with Fire Pillars to allow him to rest. Laughing at her sudden yelling, he sat down. He was glad that he had learned how to do that from Dracula; probably one of the only good results from fighting Dracula. He just shrugged at everyone's surprised glances. She would eventually find a way to get through.

He wasn't given enough time to enjoy the rest. A large fiery section of the wooden fence was suddenly launched towards the audience's direction. Richter's heart halted. He knew they didn't have enough time to get out of the way and none of them could destroy it. Toriel and Asgore couldn't control Richter's fire. The Brother's wouldn't be able to intercept the flaming projectile. Acting without thinking, he pulled out the Stopwatch and empowered it. Time completely halted with a large timer appearing above Richter's head. The time kept on resetting; a strange error that had been occurring since the Altar's magical connection. Time wouldn't start until he stopped powering the Stopwatch. Quickly lowering the Fire Pillars, Richter rushed towards the fiery fence wall. He couldn't directly damage it due to time being frozen, so he got between the group and the fence. Unfreezing time, he quickly dashed through it. Pieces of scolding wood surrounded the Belmont as the fence was no more. The yelling, and Papyrus's scream, stopped as they saw that Richter had somehow intervened. Undyne quickly ran over to the group.

"OH SHIT! I thought I was throwing it at Richter! You guys ok?"

Toriel was the first to respond and her tone was very grim.

"Yes, we're fine; no thanks to Richter here. You need to go inside and think about what you've done. While you're there, put a coin in the swear jar. Go now, Undyne."

Undyne left mumbling to herself. The Brothers started cheering, only to be shot down by Toriel's glare. Her gaze softened when she turned to Richter.

"Thanks for helping out there. Normally we're used to Undyne's reckless habits, but that was...unexpected."

"No, it's my fault. I should've done something different instead of using fire. None of you can control my fire either and I knew that. I feel really bad now. Sorry."

Before Toriel could speak, Asriel jumped in. He was vibrating with excitement. She gave up and went inside.

"Be sorry for being cool? That was amazing! With all of the dodging and magic, it looked like a living light show!"

Frisk jumped in like he normally did.

"My favorite part was when you launched Undyne into the sky. No one had anticipated it!"

Of course, the Brothers couldn't resist retorting to what Frisk had said. They always needed to show off. Surprisingly, it was Gurkha who spoke.

"Actually, we did. He did something like that to us once. It was, uh, an interesting experience."

Frisk and Asriel crowded the Brothers as they told them the story of when Richter had needed to get to the teleport room in their sector...with full hearts. They hadn't been defeated so easily in their lives. Asgore got up to inspect the fence. When Richter tried to follow, Asgore stopped him with his hand.

"It's fine, Richter. I would feel useless if I didn't do something here. Toriel doesn't allow me to do any of the chores anyway."

With a smile, he went to the fence. Richter had lost track of Papyrus and Sans. They weren't in the yard and he hadn't seen them since he saved them from the fence. Richter walked to Ember, exhausted. Stopping Time took the most out of Richter and he knew that his body wasn't ready when he began the empowerment. He had no choice, however. None of the Brothers were fast enough to stop it and neither were the family. He slightly wished that he had brought an Ice Shade. He flopped over on top of the Fire Warg, resulting in a quiet huff from her. He had to stop himself from falling unconscious. He wouldn't hear the end of it if he had.

"(I can see that you're tired. Maybe you should've conserved your energy a little more.)"

"What did you expect? I wasn't used to how she fought, so I used what I deemed appropriate to give me some space. I didn't expect her to throw that fence though."

"(I don't think anyone did. Good thing that you saved them though. That was an excellent display that you still are YOU, not anyone else. Now, it's about time we go. You said you would sleep early tonight and I WILL make sure you do.)"

"Sure, whatever. I'm just going to lay up here then and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

Ember could instantly name several ways she could remove Richter from her back, but she held her mental tongue. He deserved to rest for a while and he wasn't too heavy to carry. As Ember went through the house and past the kitchen, Richter hand stretched upward and waved towards Toriel and Undyne; where the latter was being lectured by the former on what to do and what not to do with property. Undyne gave a quick thumbs up towards wherever Richter was on the Fire Warg and Toriel quickly shook her head. She doubted that Undyne would ever learn.


	10. Chapter 9: Intense Interrogation

Chapter 9: Intense Interrogation

True to her word, Ember made sure that Richter wasn't going anywhere that night. He was lying down in the middle of his Living Room. He wanted to go to his own bed, but she wouldn't allow him to. Being buried under several hundred pounds of warm fur made it difficult for him to move. Richter felt that it wasn't necessary anyway since he didn't plan on staying awake elsewhere. Even though he won the small battle with Undyne, he had exhausted himself with his spells. He felt that Ember brought up a good point: He really shouldn't of used such a powerful spell so early into the battle despite Undyne's tactics. The incident with the Stopwatch didn't help matters either. He hadn't had decent sleep in weeks, excluding naps. He blamed himself for it knowingly. He was too focused on work for anything else at the time. Just like his past, it eventually caught up to him. Richter had to be "thrown" off Ember for him to move. He couldn't, and still can't, feel his arms. He was just glad that he started feeling the effects of sleep as he drifted off.

Ember, too, was glad that Richter had finally fallen asleep. As much as she admired his determination, she knew that he wasn't a machine. Signs of internal exhaustion were abundant before the battle. His movement was much more sluggish and he made casual mistakes. Despite what everyone thought, it was Richter who forgot the one step into the Trophy Room. She didn't blame him though. Constantly working being a good thing was indoctrinated into Richter at such a young age that only recently did he start seeing the problems with it. She hoped that he would eventually break the habit and start to relax. Richter seemed to only show his true personality when he was relaxed. However, no matter the situation, he just wouldn't lower his guard. Only when sleeping had Ember seen the Belmont truly chill; until he starts having nightmares. She doubted that Richter remembered any of them. He would always wake up and act completely fine, but she knew better. He was reliving his time with Shaft every time he went to sleep, with only a few exceptions. The times when she was there seemed to be without nightmares. He never told her why he was calmed so much by animals. She couldn't think of a reason, so she was left in the dark. She didn't care though. As long as Richter was calmed, she was content with not knowing.

Something about this night was different to the Fire Warg though. She couldn't help shake the feeling that they were being watched by someone lurking in the shadows. She couldn't get up to investigate in the fear that she would rouse Richter from his sleep. Maybe laying on top of Richter wasn't the smartest idea she had thought of. It stopped not only Richter from moving, but herself as well. Every time she thought she would catch the figure off guard, it disappeared from her line of sight with a flash of white and blue. She trusted herself that it wasn't an illusion of sorts, but a stalker or unwanted visitor. Ember continued to get the feeling that their "guest" had some business with Richter. She wouldn't allow that in the slightest.

After about an hour of trying to see the invader from her mounted position, she realized that she could instantly end their "game". Being a Fire Warg had its perks, even if most of them were combat oriented. Quickly exhaling a small ball of fire, the room lit up. For a second, she got a clear view of the creature watching them. She was shocked to find a short skeleton wearing a blue hoodie, both eyes an empty void, staring back at her; the monster's usual grin wider and more strained than normal. With a deep chuckle, he spoke.

"you just had to see me, huh? oh well. i was never good at the hiding anyway. i've got talk to this human here, so why don't you just leave for a minute?"

She instinctively growled. She feared what his version of talking was like. The skeleton's strained calmness told her that whatever he wanted, it was going to be violent. Any ill will towards Richter was, partially, directed towards the creatures of the Altar as well. She wouldn't allow any harm to fall upon Richter. Standing up, she paced around Richter protectively; teeth bared into a violent snarl. She slightly hoped that she could wake Richter up before Sans did anything.

"just got to make my life hard, don't you? oh well. don't say i didn't warn ya."

A ring of Gaster Blaster surrounded the Fire Warg, all firing simultaneously. She yipped out in pain as the beams pierced her flesh and fur. She let an instinctual and drawn out howl as she faded into a puff of fire, her soul retreating into the Altar to heal. Richter slowly clambered off of the ground at hearing the howl. He didn't know exactly why someone would be in pain, but it meant only one thing: Someone was attacking the inhabitants of his house. Looking around, he couldn't see Ember anywhere. His vision was incredibly blurry and he was still exhausted from the day prior. There weren't any sounds of battle and nothing was broken. Yet, he knew that he didn't imagine that howl. It had sounded so close, almost on top of him. That's when he realized something: Ember was gone. Richter empowered the Vampire Killer with flames, lighting up the room. Everything was undisturbed in the house. He couldn't exactly figure out where the intruder was. That was until someone spoke his name from the shadows. Turning around, he saw a single blue eye in the darkness. It outlined the socket the eye resided in, revealing it to be a skull. Richter recognized it as Sans.

"mornin, richter. how'd ya sleep?"

Richter sighed and started to light some of the candles around the house. He was glad that Sans was here, even if he didn't know why yet. He thought that the skeleton could help him find whoever attacked Ember.

"Well, I was sleeping well until someone attacked Ember. I awoke to her howl. Strange that I can't find the perpetrator though. Mind helping me search?"

"sure thing. i was just wondering something though."

The Belmont had finally created enough light to cast the entire Living Room in a soft glow. Extinguishing the flaming flail-whip, he continued his search. He hoped that no one was in the Trophy Room. That would be a pain in the ass to fight in without breaking anything. Opening the door, he called back to Sans.

"Yeah, what is it? It hope it's relevant to the search though. I don't like the idea of an intruder hiding in my house, especially while I'm sleeping."

The tone of Sans' voice shifted drastically, becoming much deeper and sinister. Richter slowly turned around as Sans asked his question. He had a very bad feeling that shit was about to go down.

"why didn't you tell us that you could stop time? that's something that would have been nice to know. after all, nothing good comes from a time manipulator. the timelines usually flip their shit, dude."

The accusing voice of Sans sent several bolts of fear up Richter's spine, chilling him to the very core. He had the feeling that he was going to have a very bad time. The thought of calling for help struck him, but his pride said otherwise. If he could beat Undyne, supposedly one of the monster's best fighters, then he could defeat Sans. After all, what could a skeleton like him do? Slowly pulling out the Vampire Killer, he slowly took a step backwards down the stairs.

"Who are you to tell me what I can and can't talk about? I wasn't planning on ever using the Stopwatch; it's too complex for most people to understand. I really wanted to avoid using it for THIS exact reason."

Sans just shook his head, taking another step closer. Both of his hands were in his hoodie. However, he still gave the vibe that he was going to start a fight.

"humans can't be trusted with power like that. based off of that performance today with undyne, i can't help but worry. humans have wronged us with powerful magic in the past. as well as that, the possibility of you triggering a timeline res-"

"Sans, please! I couldn't be farther from those evil magicians! I've been trying my very best to have a stable relationship with all of you, despite my own internal demons. Hell, I'm pretty sure saving all of you from that burning fence proved that I'm not using my powers with ill will."

Sans got even closer, one hand coming out of his hoodie pocket. His blue eye began to burn ever so brighter. Richter kept his ground, despite everything in his body telling him to run.

"it's not that i don't trust you, richter. i just don't know if this so called shaft will take control over you again. i heard your "confession" with that fire warg in the forest. even you don't know if shaft will come back and take control. i'm not taking that risk. we worked too hard to get this far, richter. i hope you understand."

Richter's mind was suddenly crowded with rage unlike any other. Just as he had finally began to trust this new world, he was sought out because of his powers and his past. He couldn't find a world where he could be satisfied, could he? It was impossible for him to have a happy life. However, San's confrontation revealed something else: He had sent Ember back to the Altar by killing her. His so called friend just harmed one of his closest companions. That was practically harming family to the Belmont. Sans wasn't a curious guest anymore...he was an assailant.

Sans could see anger cloud the man's eyes. Something he had said pissed the man off. Sadly, Sans thought he could get through this without getting into a fight. All he wanted to do was silently kill Richter and get out. However, that large wolf of his woke the man up. Sans knew that he didn't have the health to fight Richter for very long. He was honestly impressed with the man's abilities back when he was having a mock battle with Undyne. Richter certainly was a powerful magician and fighter. However, his past and sudden appearance made him a threat to the timeline and he wouldn't allow this to cause another reset. It reached its pinnacle when he found out that Richter could manipulate time. Preparing an attack, he was surprised when the human spoke. His voice reminded him of when he had taken Richter's locket a few weeks ago. He could tell that Richter was holding himself back from attacking.

"..You...spied...on...ME? And yet, you dare compare me to that vile and despicable man? Do...DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MAN PUT ME THROUGH? IF YOU DID, YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS NO-FUCKING-WAY THAT I WILL EVER TURN OUT LIKE HIM! Why don't you use those spying abilities of yours and get the _fuck_ out of my house and I maybe, just maybe, will forgive you for the death threats and you injuring Ember.! HOWEVER, if you continue this, _so help me god_ I will kick your bony ass so hard THAT ALL THAT WILL BE LEFT IS YOUR SKULL...WHICH I WILL MOUNT ABOVE MY FUCKING FIREPLACE!"

Sans internally sighed. He wasn't going to take the man's offer, as good as it sounded. There wasn't any going back from this. He never liked how temperamental humans were anyway. As good of a man Richter was, Sans just couldn't take the risk. He couldn't feel bad now. All he had to do was think back to the constant timeline resets to realize that he couldn't go back to that life. He considered this to be necessary.

"sorry boy-o, i won't go back."

Sans pulled the Belmont's soul and locked it down with his blue attack. Richter suddenly became very stiff, almost statue like. He was too busy trying to break free of the magical bind to question what exactly the blue heart in front of him was. The skeleton took a step forward and extended his hand in front of him, sending Richter flying into the Trophy Room. He continued to go forward until he collided with the glass case containing the life-size replica of a Sword Lord. Richter found himself on the ground, covered with broken glass and armor parts. The Sword Lord's sword rested a few inches beside Richter's torso, embedded in the ground. He sighed with relief; that sword had gotten dangerously close to impaling him. The blue heart that resided a foot or so in front of his chest was no longer blue. Instead, it was a deep violet with tinges of yellow around the upper section of the heart. Several cracks, varying in depth, were scattered throughout the heart. What scared Richter was that there were four small hooks in-bedded in the top, commonly used for controlling puppets. True to its appearance, four strands of frayed and cut string were connected to the hooks. They waved back and forth slowly, as if being influenced by wind. Forgetting everything else, he reached out to touch the strings. As he made contact, a deep shock rose up his spine, enforcing the strange feeling of emptiness that had been following the man. He quickly receded his hand. Whatever this was, it was part of him. He guessed that the strange heart was his own proverbial heart of sorts.

Richter slowly got up, using the sword as an anchor, and rubbed his aching limbs. He didn't know what exactly Sans had done to him, but it was effective. It had completely immobilized him from doing any attacks. He was still pissed beyond belief, but he was just glad that he had survived the attack and that Sans hadn't pursued afterwords. He didn't know why Sans had stopped his assault. He wasn't in the condition to be fighting at all. Sans must've been planning ever since he had saved them from the flaming piece of debris. If only he could make Sans that he was trying his hardest to not be a threat. It was too late for that though. Sans had broken too many rules and Richter considered him now an enemy. If only something could've gone differently. Richter couldn't believe he was betrayed by someone he called a friend. He was interrupted by his thoughts by San's voice, echoing off the walls of the dark Trophy Room.

"don't make this hard on me. this isn't easy to stomach, ya know? heh, that's if i had a stomach. someone's got to be the judge here. i ain't got nothing against ya; i just can't allow anything to happen to my family."

Slowly turning around, Richter just softly growled at the skeleton. He tried to sympathize with him, he truly did. However, nothing could hide the fact Sans had spied on Richter, broke into his house, attacked his closest companion, and then attacked Richter himself. It was Shaft and Dracula all over again. For a brief second, Sans' image flickered into Shaft's. Richter found that fit perfectly. Internally reacting, he summoned an Axe. Richter wasn't planning on dying without a fight. He let the anger slowly fuel him, allowing it to work as his primary source of energy. Revenge and loathing clouded his mind as he prepared the item crash. He could rebuild the house. All that mattered was the destruction of the intruder. He had completely blocked out who the intruder was. Pinging two Guardians, he bit down the urge to lectured his attacker. He felt a small sliver of his condescending nature from being Shaft's puppet resurface into his mind. Richter wasn't going to hold back anything. He knew that the assailant didn't deserve any hope. If he wanted the Shaft version of him, Richter would make sure that he GOT that version. Not verbally though. He refused to even speak to the traitor. Richter would use every power in his arsenal to stop his own execution. It was now a life or death situation.

Levitating into the air, Richter was surrounded by a complete sphere of axes. The sphere reached such a density that Sans couldn't see the man anymore. Taking cover behind a replica of a wagon with scythes embedded into it, he waited for the storm of axes to be released. He didn't have to wait long. More than a hundred axes were cast into every nook of the room. The sound of Richter's yelling and glass shattering overtook Sans' senses. He wasn't given time to recover, however, for the wagon was suddenly flipped into the air by a very large suit of armor with an equally large longsword. Another stood several feet behind the first, casting a magical shield in front of Richter as he empowered his flail-whip with flames. The Belmont's right hand strangely sparked with electricity. Sans could see a strange gauntlet adorning the man's hand and lower arm. Both the flames and the electrical sparks lit up the man's face, revealing a very solemn expression. Either something had changed, or Richter wasn't enjoying the prospect of fighting.

"Thanks for the cover. Let's get this over with. This monster needs eradicated from this house, in any means possible. Don't worry about the damages; I can repair those easily. I just want this over with."

Richter spotted Sans dodging the swings of one of the Guardians, launching several bones into the armor. The hulk of a monster didn't slow down in the slightest. Smiling slightly, he let the Guardian have his fun. As the name suggested, they enjoyed protecting someone more than anything else. It was a strange form of satisfaction that Richter couldn't completely grasp. He couldn't help but silently cheer as the second Guardian grabbed the central unit of the Spectral Sword replica and threw the deadly disk of swords at Sans. The Skeleton managed to port to his left side, right where the first Guardian was waiting. Richter was still shocked that Sans was able to dodge and port like that. It made Richter's job of defeating the skeleton a lot harder.

Despite their sheer health, he could tell that Sans' bone attacks were wearing them down. They didn't exactly dodge them. Pulling out several flasks of Holy Water, Richter launched them towards Sans' general direction. Like Richter had expected, Sans ported behind the second Guardian, raising a wall of bones from the ground and into the creatures lower armor. The first Guardian, however, had to stop. Even with Richter being the master of the Altar, the creatures weren't immune. Turning towards Richter, he signaled him to head off. Both Guardians vanished; much to Richter's approval. He didn't like it when people were hurt in his stead. Sans, who was somehow sweating, turned towards Richter. He was clearly angry now. He quickly put Richter's soul under the blue spell and brought him closer to where Sans was standing.

"hiding behind your minions, huh? i guess you are like shaft after all. didn't you say that he summoned creatures to do his bidding? i guess i'll never know the truth."

Sans was put off by Richter's lack of response. He didn't even shake his head to deny or confirm anything. For a man who was talking so much before fighting, he became eerily silent. Richter's right arm suddenly released a wave of electricity, bouncing off the walls and into everything standing. Fire slowly started to spread as the cloth from some of the replicas made contact with the sparks. Sans had barely managed to dodge the tendrils of electricity. Sadly for the skeleton, it resulted in him releasing Richter. Richter quickly rolled forward and grasped the skeleton by the front of his hoodie. Sans gave the Belmont a wink before porting. Safe from a distance, he fired two Gaster Blasters at the human. Richter couldn't pull himself out of his shock fast enough to dodge the incoming beams of light. His "heart" suddenly began to burn like the depths of hell, causing Richter to keel over against the wall. He felt his health slowly vanish like a poison. Sans wasn't finished with the human though. Sans could tell that Richter had many cards up his sleeve and he didn't want to wait to see them all. It was bad enough that one mistake could kill him, but when most of Richter's attacks involved several things to dodge at once, a lot of opportunities to make mistakes appeared. Pulling Richter's soul forth again, Sans slammed him into the ceiling and floor repeatedly. To hopefully finish the Belmont off, he slammed the Belmont into the wall, where several bones awaited him. Richter couldn't do anything to stop himself from being impaled. Sans released his hold on the Belmont and slowly trotted towards his bleeding form. The human's soul retreated back into his body.

"sorry to end this so soon. i just don't have the hp to fight ya for long."

Richter, after attempting, and failing, to push himself off of the wall and the embedded bones, laughed in the skeleton's face. Despite the blood dripping from his mouth and the bone protrusions, he laughed more than he had ever laughed before. He had to stop himself, lest he cough up his internal organs. Richter had known that Sans would get the best of him. Ever since he had first encountered the monster, he had the suspicion that Sans' unnatural calmness was either hiding something or not worried about being harmed. Richter should've suspected it then. However, now knowing that Sans had a small amount of hp, he realized that there was an Item Crash that could end everything; one spell that even Sans couldn't protect himself from.

"..Good...to...know...HYDRO STORM!"

Before Sans was able to finish off Richter, the ceiling suddenly became dense with blue clouds. A heavy downpour of Acidic Holy Water started to destroy everything in the room. However, it managed to extinguish the fire caused by whatever electricity spell Richter had used to break free from San's attack. Despite how hard he tried, Sans wasn't able to dodge the sheer amount of Holy Rain and could feel his form slowly deteriorate. Dammit, he shouldn't have told Richter that he didn't have enough hp. Sans was beginning to fear that he might have to leave Richter to bleed to death. His hopes were shattered the moment Richter manually broke the bones piercing him. Too focused on minimizing the damage the rain was causing him, Sans didn't see Richter look up at something.

That something was his own health bar. Richter was giddy from the results: He had half of it left. Despite the appearance of his attacks, they did barely any damage. Either Sans had underestimated Richter, or he wasn't trying to kill the Vampire Hunter. He assumed it was the former. Those thoughts changed when he noticed his hp slowly draining. He got the feeling that it wouldn't stop draining until he had a sliver of health left. The damage Sans dealt was akin to poison. Richter enjoyed watching Sans trying to protect himself from the rain. However, he suddenly felt guilty. The rain must've been akin to torture for the monster. Hating that he had a conscious, he banished the rain. A very haggard Sans looked at the ceiling with surprise as the Holy Rain vanished. He glanced over towards Richter with wide eye sockets. Richter was moving forward towards Sans at a very leisurely pace. Sans couldn't find the energy to port or unleash an attack. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Richter was a very tough opponent who had brought him to exhaustion. Checking his hp, he became crestfallen.

(.2/5 Hp)

No matter what attack Richter used, a single hit would kill him. He was just glad that he found the motivation to participate in Papyrus' morning exercises. They had somehow increased his 1 hp into 5, something that just saved his skeletal ass. It wasn't good enough though. Sans just stood there as Richter grabbed the short skeleton by the front of his shirt and hoisted him up in front of him. Sans attempted to resist the slowly approaching feeling of unconsciousness, but he lost as he stared into Richter's fury-bound eyes. With a shrug, Sans made peace with himself as he spoke.

"least i tried. you can't say i didn't, can ya? never been too good at the fighting business. always wore me out. sorry, gotsta go paps."

He couldn't help but feel ashamed as he fell asleep in the deathly tight grip of the Vampire Hunter. He had failed his job and seemingly doomed the existence of their timeline.

* * *

Richter paced back and forth in his Living Room, internally debating as to what he should do with Sans. He was surprised that Sans had just given up and fallen asleep. Must've been his way of handling his death. Richter didn't kill him though. He just didn't have the heart to do so. At the mention of Papyrus, all ill will left Richter. Sure, he still was holding a grudge against Sans for spying on him and injuring Ember. He still hadn't heard from her though. Whatever he had done to the Fire Warg, it was devastating despite Sans' low damage output. Carrying the skeleton upstairs, he had placed him on the couch. It had been several hours since the battle and he hadn't woken up yet. Salome finally got her wish to tend to Richter's wounds as he thought of ways to deal with the intruder. The Belmont had to hold her back from turning Sans into a cat...despite how satisfying that would've been to see. Every so often while tending to the human's wounds, she would spare a quick glance towards the sleeping skeleton and hiss softly. She normally didn't question Richter's decisions, but after seeing his wounds up close, she felt that Sans didn't deserved to be spared. Richter's wounds, while sparse, were deep. Stopping the bleeding was the biggest thing for her to do. He wouldn't tell her exactly what happened, but she could piece it together. He had somehow been impaled. How Richter managed to survive baffled her. From what she saw, he was running off of pure adrenaline.

To be honest with himself, he didn't blame Sans. Not anymore, at least. He could completely understand protecting family. That was the biggest reason he attacked Sans. Not to defend himself, but to make sure Sans wouldn't harm any other Altar residents. Richter was now realizing that it was stupid to assume such things. Sans had directly said that he didn't want to harm anyone else. Richter had to mentally force at least fifteen different creatures from joining the fight. It was the first and hopefully last command he would ever give. He didn't want anyone else to be hurt over his own issues. He was perfectly capable of dealing with his problems himself. Richter felt that he didn't need to be constantly protected anyway. The Guardians were the only exception since he needed to catch his breath from that first throw. Hell, in fact, the Guardians would've overridden the command anyway. They reached boss levels of stats and will. He still felt justified in beating Sans though.

The only thing stopping Richter from dropping Sans' ass off at Toriel's doorstep was that he was worried that he would attack Richter the instant he woke up, which could happen on the way to her house. The fight inside the Trophy Room was bad enough, but at least it was contained. Richter's attacks would harm any being that wasn't himself or another Belmont. Well, excluding the obvious blades and all that. If he hurt someone while fighting Sans, he didn't think he could ever forgive himself. He also didn't want to ruin his already mysterious relationship with the public. They just recently had seen him and he didn't want them to think that he was an evil force. It was around 7:00 in the morning, so if he could get someone to drop of Sans, his life would become so much easier.

He was taken from his thoughts by the voice of Death slowly entering the room.

"So this is the intruder? Based off of the damage in the Trophy Room, I would assume you did most of the fighting."

"Yeah, the prick was hard to hit. He had the ability to teleport away from attacks. Too bad for him that his attacks did barely any damage. Yet, they worked like poison. It was quite strange."

Sighing, Richter stopped pacing around and slowly slumped down the wall. He wished he didn't have to ask Death for a favor, but it was the only solution he could think of.

"Mind helping me with something?"

Death tilted his head slightly and stared.

"Yes Richter? What do you need?"

"Can you drop Sans off at Toriel's house? I can't risk walking him over at the moment."

Death was completely baffled. From what the presiding Guardians and Richter himself said, the fight was quite vicious. He wanted to refuse simply because he felt that Sans didn't deserve anything. He had attacked Richter, two Guardians, and a Fire Warg. That wasn't including the damages to the Trophy Room. Death held his tongue though. He would never understand why Richter was so sympathetic. Despite it all, that's what made Richter different than any other warrior he had encountered before. No matter how powerful and compassionate they seemed, it could all break when given the opportunity to kill someone. Death had seen the Trophy Room before talking to the Guardians. It was a mess with signs of Richter's attacks everywhere. His fighting style was rather destructive. Yet, Sans was still alive. He assumed that Richter, despite being pissed beyond belief and frustrated by an enemy that he couldn't hit, spared Sans just because it wouldn't be right to kill him.

"And if they ask questions?"

"Doesn't matter. Tell them what you want. I'm too tired to care at the moment. We better do this quickly before Bag-of-Bones over here wakes up and starts firing those beams again."

To signify that he was being serious, Richter placed his head onto his hands and rested, sitting upright. Death obliged to Richter's wish and grabbed one of Sans' arms. The skeleton slightly grumbled, but didn't wake. With that, Death vanished along with Sans. With the disappearance of both creatures, Richter groaned loudly. He really wanted to just sleep, but he had too many things to do. Checking on the Guardians and Ember was at the top of his list. Rationally, he knew that they were fine. That didn't mean that Richter would be rational when it came to his friends though. His day was full of irrational decisions anyway. He still didn't know why he let Sans go after the entire fiasco in the Trophy Room. If anyone would've asked, he would say that he didn't want to deal with the cleanup. However, only he knew the true reason: Despite how rash Sans' actions were, he only cared about his family. All Richter knew was work and family. Most people wouldn't consider being the master of a large population of monsters as being family. Richter knew different, however. It was more family-like than his upbringing. Only once Maria was introduced into his life did he get the semblance of family.

Richter slowly clambered to his feet. He wasn't able to take a few steps forward before exhaustion finally caught up with him. Richter toppled over and smashed into the coffee table he had resting in the middle of the room, knocking it over onto its side. He lied there, hissing in pain for the impact had affected his wounds. Richter sucked in the pain and managed to separate himself from the table via crawling away. He progressed enough to make it halfway to his bedroom before completely falling asleep. He would clean up the mess later. As much as he wanted to check on the injured monsters, he knew they weren't going to die. Richter, however, might actually die if he didn't get some sleep. That's what he felt, at least.

* * *

Death arrived rather quickly at Toriel's house just to see that no one was there. Death remembered that Richter had told him that they went to school on the weekdays. Trying to recollect what day it was, he ended up failing. Sighing slightly, he teleported into her living room. Sans was still unconscious despite the constant movement. Death didn't exactly enjoy carrying his sleeping form bridal style. Setting him down onto the couch, he checked the rest of the house to see if someone was watching the house. He was surprised to find that no one was staying just in case Sans came back. Death assumed it was a normal thing for Sans to vanish. He laughed quietly at the prospect that if Richter hadn't been so forgiving, Death might've had to reap Sans' soul. It wasn't exactly appealing, but it reminded him of his deal with Dracula. Floating back into the Living Room, he found Sans finally rousing. Death decided to have a small chat about Sans' future "talks" with Richter.

"So he finally awakens. You know, I was wondering if you would ever actually get up. I might've had to pull out my scythe."

Sans skull eyelids suddenly opened, revealing only a neon blue eye in his left socket. He quickly got up to face Death. Despite facing Death itself, Sans felt himself calming. It was clear that Death wasn't talking to Sans to spurn a fight. Sans was still trying to piece together the night prior anyway to worry about the robed skeleton. He closed both bony eyelids for a few seconds, before opening them to reveal two minuscule white dots. Sitting upright now, his hands found his hoodie pockets.

"you know, i always thought i'd be a good boxer."

Humoring Sans, Death tilted his head inquisitively. He didn't quite understand why Sans was talking about boxing considering it was completely irrelevant to the situation.

"reason why is simple. everyone keeps on telling me that i hit the hay hard."

Death couldn't muffle the chuckle that escaped his skeletal jaw. He quickly became somber though; he didn't have the time to exchange jokes. Richter's Trophy Room was totaled and the man himself was probably trying to do the job himself. Sometimes, Death hated how stubborn the man was. It made fighting, and arguing, with Richter so much more difficult than it should've been. Good thing he didn't have to initiate battle with the Belmont every time he saw him now. Being liberated from Dracula was, well, liberating. Turning his attention back to the punny skeleton, he asked,

"Sans, do you know why I'm here?"

"is it because you want to sell me something? toriel always said that salesmen would be the death of me."

"No Sans. Do you remember what happened last night?"

"i've been trying to piece that together. why, you know something?"

"Does the name Richter ring any bells?"

"yeah, he's that one human obsessed with blue who has strong magical...oh shit, i'm dead...he killed me, didn't he?"

Sans managed to put all of the parts together as to what had happened. After watching Richter's small scrimmage with Undyne, he deemed the human a threat to the timeline. He went by his house later and tried to kill the Belmont. Last thing he remembered was falling unconscious as Richter hoisted him into the air. He also remembered the disappointment that he held for himself for failing to kill the human.

Sans was pulled from his thoughts by Death laughing harder than he had at one of his puns. Gripping a scythe that appeared out of nowhere for support, the robed skeleton continued to laugh for a solid minute.

"what? finally understand my last pun? it's a bone breaker.

"...n-no...heh...Sans, have you taken in your surroundings?"

No, he hadn't. Looking around, he placed his location as Toriel's Living Room. That ruled out a reset. The smell of bacon was strong and the shades on the windows were letting beams of sunlight in. He figured it to be a school day, during the morning. That meant they still were on the surface. Strange considering that he last was in Richter's room of strange artifacts and misc. Putting two and two together, he whistled from shock. He hadn't expected this outcome in the slightest.

"Sans...for some ungodly reason that I can't understand, Richter spared you from a fate that I feel you deserved. Then again, I can't say anything. All of us at the Altar had taken a swipe or two at the Belmont back when he stormed the castle. Not like we had a choice though. Before you start launching those bones, I'm not here to kill you. I wouldn't betray Richter's trust like that."

Three things about Death's statements surprised Sans. The first being that the physical representation of Death worked for Richter. The second and third were more important than the first. In fact, they practically eclipsed it. Richter had not only spared Sans, but he had ordered that he was to be left alone. Sans couldn't exactly figure out what his motives were. Why would he spare his attacker considering that Richter was infuriated by Sans obvious betrayal.

"In fact, I'm the one who dropped you off here."

"were you planning on having this talk then?

"Yes and no. There were a few things I wanted to tell you, but I wasn't planning on waking you yet. Now that you are awake, however, I'll start off. All I have to say is a simple warning. Death comes to those who seek it, and you walk a fine line between prevention and cause. Watch your step."

With that, Death was sucked into a miniature black hole and vanished. Sans just rubbed the back of his skull nervously. He didn't exactly know what to tell the others. His burned and cut clothes wasn't something that one could easily explain. That would eventually lead to him discussing his fears involving timelines and that...that was a subject he wasn't ready to talk about yet. He doubted that he would ever be ready to discuss that. Frisk and Asriel were the only people who knew about his dilemma. He would have to talk to them first before anything else. If Toriel or Asgore found out what he had tried to do... He shuddered at the thought. Since he had time, he brought his thoughts back to Richter. His assumptions as to his character changed drastically with Sans' continued existence. Maybe, just maybe, Richter could be trusted. Sans had always assumed that Frisk was an anomaly among the normal humans. Sans didn't know what to think anymore. If the skeleton could frown, he would've. Nothing about Richter made sense anymore. He was worth a revaluation though.

He was a human from another universe and time who had very potent magic.

However, he had been trying his hardest to keep his more dangerous magic under wraps.

He had been a puppet for an incredibly powerful mage who used his inner desires as a weapon.

Yet, Richter was mentally scarred from the experience and seems like he would try his hardest to never allow that to happen again.

The Belmont has command over an abnormally large variety of different creatures.

Strangely, he cared more about their well-being than his own.

He was incredibly cocky, prideful, and grumpy-

-which hid his intense compassionate side; something Richter couldn't help but see as a weakness.

Everything about the human stated that he could be extremely hazardous to the lives of everyone in the town.

But, he was making numerous attempts to mesh his monsters' culture with the the surface world for the betterment of their lives.

Needless to say, Sans was conflicted. With all of Richter's potential to be dangerous, he just didn't have the heart to even act the part. Sans had seen his soul; the cut marionette strings and hooks weren't easy to miss. It was clear that Richter had gone through hell before arriving in Sans' world. Sans didn't know what to do with Richter. Being spared by the Vampire Hunter threw a very large wrench into his gears. He wanted to observe Richter more and organize his new thoughts, but he knew that wasn't possible. He had screwed up his connection with Richter the minute he attacked that Warg of his. However, that didn't mean that Asriel and Frisk couldn't observe for him. They would understand his worries; at least he hoped they would.


	11. Chapter 10: Mending Minds

Normally, Sans enjoyed being lazy. It had first been an excuse for him to be depressed, but that changed when he got to the surface and everything hadn't reset. Now, he was getting bored not doing anything. He had started fixing all of his flaws when he finally realized that their world would be staying. His hp was the first thing he worked on. He would've been devastated if Papyrus came home one day to find that Sans had died from falling down the stairs. Having one hp had been such a hassle and burden on both Sans' and Papyrus' shoulders. Five wasn't much better, but it was an improvement over the wafer stats he had prior. He mentally thanked his past self for putting forth effort to not die as easily. If he hadn't, Richter would've ended Sans with that rain spell. He still didn't know why Richter had spared him from that either. Despite all of Richter's bragging about being an amazing fighter, the battle version of Richter didn't seem to enjoy it. It reminded Sans of when Richter was telling the Fire Warg about his way of coping with the mental damage. "Masks", Sans recollected.

As expected, Frisk, Asriel, and Toriel arrived at 5:00 that afternoon. They always opted to stay at school with Toriel until she officially got off work. He could hear them approach through the door. Frisk and Asriel never really were the quiet sort anyway. Once the door opened, he knew he was in a world of shit. There wasn't anything that he really could do once they saw him and his clothes. His hp was easier to hide than the physical damage. He still couldn't port anywhere. The battle had drained him more than anything else he could think of. He had to give Richter credit: If Sans couldn't dodge as well as he could, his first attack would've ended Sans instantly.

Toriel had gasped from shock and dropped her bag. He was instantly crowded by Frisk and Asriel as Toriel ran off to the kitchen; probably looking for Monster Candy, no doubt. The kids were careful to not touch Sans as the bombarded him with questions. Frisk was much more worried than Asriel. Frisk's first attempted run was Genocide. He, out of all people, knew what it was like to fight Sans. He could dodge almost all attacks launched his way. Frisk knew that whatever attacked Sans was highly dangerous. Sans couldn't help but laugh at the fact that they probably thought HE was attacked. He felt like he didn't have the heart to tell them the truth.

"What happened Sans? Who did this to you?"

"Are you alright?"

Toriel had entered the room with a worn sewing kit and some candy. Shushing the kids with finger,she turned her attention to Sans. As glad as she was that Sans wasn't dead, she needed to know what had happened to him. She couldn't think of someone would would dare attack the skeleton. The town they lived in, while rarely hosting some hostile humans, was rather peaceful. Almost all of the humans were scared of monsters. Only recently did they start to hang out with some of the town inhabitants. Richter was probably the friendliest human she had talked to since the they got to the surface. Speaking of Richter, she was tempted to send someone to get Richter. He would want to know what had happened to Sans. He would a great asset to catch whoever had injured Sans.

"Sans, eat these. THEN, I want you to tell me exactly what had happened to you. I won't allow my family to be hurt by some ruffian."

Toriel handed over the Monster Candy, which Sans accepted with a quiet "thanks". While he was eating, Toriel went to send the kids away. She didn't want them to hear about whatever had happened to him, in case it was too graphic. She didn't doubt that Frisk had probably been through worse though. Her efforts were halted by Sans' hand on her arm.

"no, toriel. they need to hear this. please."

With a simple huff, she relented. Sans began to speak of how he had received his injuries.

"now, i want you to stick with this story as it progresses. it'll make my job a lot easier if i can tell it without stopping. 'k?"

Frisk and Asriel nodded as Toriel rose one of her eyebrows.

"good that we have an understanding. now let's begin."

Sans adjusted where he was sitting and dove his hands back into his pockets. He couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with what he was about to say. He had the feeling that Toriel wasn't going to like what he was going to say. He doubted that anyone would. Sans was still trying to figure out how to exactly tell them of the timeline and the resets. Sadly, that wasn't something he could easily explain to anyone.

"this all revolves around richter. to start off with, i was worried about him when he first arrived. i'm pretty sure most monsters would be once they heard that he was in possession of powerful magic and had an army at his disposal. i did some research into my worries by...uh...watching him. while what i found didn't confirm anything, i decided that richter was a problem; to us and the timeline. about the timeline thing, uh. the timeline is basically everything that has happened up to here. it works kinda like a car going on a road, going forward through time. here's the problem with that though. sometimes, something can cause the "car" on the road to suddenly start at the the beginning again. usually that happens when something messes around with our dimension and etc. when richter appeared, he was an complete anomaly. he was incredibly powerful for a human. that was clearly shown by the little battle with undyne earlier. as well as that, we know that he came from a different version and time of this world. thus, i took it on myself, since i thought he was a threat to the timeline AND us, to...well, kill him so nothing could happen. needless to say, i didn't succeed. he is much more powerful than any of us can imagine. i lost and he could've easily killed me...but he didn't. he told one of his companions to move me here while i slept. to sum it up, i fought him purely based off of some worries of mine and i lost; him sparing me in the end. that's basically what happened."

Sans closed his eye sockets and waited for the punishment Toriel would probably induce. No one had said anything after he had spun his tale and the anticipation was unbearable for the skeleton monster. Very quietly, Sans could hear Frisk tell Toriel something.

"Mom, can you leave the room for a second? Something like this happened in Snowdin and I know how to fix it. Richter must be fine, so we don't need to worry about him."

"But Frisk, it's-"

"It'll be fine mom."

He could hear movement which sounded like someone leaving the room. However, he could still hear someone breathing. He was suddenly wrapped in a hug by Frisk. He opened his eyes and confirmed his suspicions. Asriel was sitting on the floor, face pensive. Toriel was off somewhere in the house now, probably confused beyond belief. Frisk quietly spoke, still embracing Sans.

"I'm just glad you're ok. What would we have done without our Duncle Sans?"

Sans chuckled slightly at the name classifying what kind of relative he was. It had initially been a mistake, but Sans wouldn't leave it be. Asriel spoke next, voice questioning. Frisk let go and sat next to Asriel as he began.

"Sans, I know that you were worried, but was hurting Richter really the best thing to do? Why not talk to him?"

"i thought he might've attacked me if i brought up his potential death, ya know? most humans that i've encountered are quite impulsive. i only learned that he wasn't during the fight. he could've attacked me multiple times while I was talking, but he didn't. in fact, i was the one who initiated the battle. and no, it wasn't the best thing to do. to be honest, i think i was blinded by the possibility of the timeline resetting. i want to talk to him NOW, but i doubt that he would even allow me to get close to him."

Frisk decided to cut into the conversation. He was still naive when it came to other human's emotions, especially those of an adult male warrior. He wan't a fool, far from it. Frisk had been through more as a child than most adults. He could read any monster like a book; understand humans was a problem for him though. It was one of the reasons why he jumped into the mountain.

"It's worth trying though! If Richter spared you, then he must care slightly. Why don't you drop by his house now and apologize and stuff?"

Asriel "hmm"ed in agreement. Sans, however, shook his head. They just didn't understand the gravity of the situation.

"guys, listen. even if richter doesn't destroy me when i first get there, his "staff" will. they aren't exactly pleased that i attacked him. i screwed this up."

Frisk quickly glanced over towards Asriel, who was still thinking. They locked eyes and nodded. Asriel lifted his head and practically shouted.

"Then we'll go TOGETHER!

"-w-wait what?"

Sans was quickly grabbed by Frisk and Asriel and was carted outside of the house. Frisk quickly let go of Sans and turned to yell inside.

"MOM! WE'RE GOING TO FIX THIS! WE WILL BE BACK LATER!"

"Hold on a mi-"

The door was shut, cutting off Toriel's frustrated voice.

* * *

Death wasn't even slightly surprised. Of course the Belmont would pass out unwillingly before actually even attempting to sleep normally. Finding Richter sprawled across the floor next to an overturned table wasn't something Death liked to return to. He was glad that the human wasn't dead, although he didn't appreciate the mess. Death always hated how messy humans were. It was as if they didn't care about their living situations.

After putting the table in its rightful position and fixing all of the broken glassware, Death fretted over what he would do about the Belmont on the floor. He decided against moving him, in case he got a face full of Holy Water. It wouldn't be the first time either. Death procured a blanket and covered the human. He couldn't help but chuckle at the resemblance to a death cover. Death managed to find a guard for the Living Room, Medusa since she was off-shift, in case Sans came back to attack Richter. He wouldn't put anything past the skeleton. He had already tried to kill Richter while he was sleeping once and Death wouldn't allow that situation to repeat itself. Speaking of the situation, Death turned his attention to the royally wrecked Trophy Room. Pulling down his hood farther, he began to work on cleanup. Almost everyone else was either working on the village or patrolling the forest in case someone came to attack again. He was pretty sure anyway that no one would prefer picking up broken replica parts and axes over protecting Richter.

Death spotted the totaled wagon and the seventy plus axes buried into it. Cursing Richter silently, he began to pull each one out. He really wished that the human knew how to fight without destroying his surroundings. Death hoped that the next generation of Belmonts, if there was going to be one, would learn how to limit their fucking axes.

* * *

Sans gave up trying to escape Frisk and Asriel about a few feet after they left the house. No matter what he said or did, they wouldn't quit walking. Based off of their grins, he got the feeling that they were planning something devious. He knew Frisk quite well and he recognized that glint in the kids eyes. It was the same glint that was present when he was trying to walk around with the stacked 'dogs on his head. Determination was a pain in the ass to deal with.

Once they arrived in the forest, Sans got the feeling that they...no, he, was being watched. The trees were too dense to actually see anyone though. He could hear the footfalls of several heavy creatures. The distinct sound of metal could be detected only by Sans. Frisk and Asriel were oblivious to their observer. It reminded Sans of the forest outside the entrance, or exit, to the Ruins. The thought of sentries being posted in the woods wasn't unusual to the skeleton. He understood completely why there would be several guards posted in the forest. However, it confirmed his suspicions that his presence wasn't exactly wanted. He guessed that the only thing stopping the sentries from attacking Sans was that he had children with him.

Only once they arrived at the entrance to the house did the group see someone. Standing tall at the door, a purple and gold armor clad knight tended to the owl perched on his shoulder. His right gauntlet hovered over his sheathed sword while his left was soothing the animal. Turning his attention back to the group with a wave of his helmet plume, he clenched the hilt. Frisk leaned forward, recognizing the signs of potential combat. Asriel, meanwhile, slightly hid behind a tensed Sans. Even after seeing Asriel and Frisk, he didn't let go of the handle...but he didn't pull the sword out either.

"I'm sure Master Richter made it quite clear that you are NOT allowed back here. The children can pass, but YOU-"

Strangely, instead of using his free hand to point, he used the hand that was holding the hilt to point at Sans.

"-will not continue any further from your current position. One more step and I'm afraid that I'll have to end your life."

Asriel hid almost completely behind Sans and Frisk took a step in front of Sans. He spoke out to the knight with the hopes to convince him.

"Sir, all we want to do is apologize to Richter and explain why Sans tried to hurt him."

The knight returned his hand back to his sword and quickly glanced behind him. Seemingly content with whatever he was looking for, he retorted to Frisk's explanation.

"I stand resolute in my directions. You and Asriel can go inside and talk with him. Sans cannot take another step forward, lest he wish death upon himself."

Surprisingly, Asriel walked from behind Sans and grabbed Frisk. He pulled the human to the side and began to whisper to him.

"I don't think that we can talk our way through this...He seems serious."

"Don't give up now, we have to get Sans ins-"

Asriel pressed a furred finger to Frisks mouth, quieting him.

"If everything goes well, we might be able to get Sans to talk to Richter later. We can't do it now though."

Frisk huffed with displeasure, but relented.

Frisk and Asriel walked back to Sans and turned to the statue still knight. Frisk spoke first between the two.

"Just Asriel and I will head inside then. Sans will go home."

Sans just shook his head and began to walk back to Toriel's house. Someone had to explain what the kids were doing. Once the skeleton monster was out of range, he relaxed. Extending his left arm forward, the owl perched on his shoulder flew into the sky. Nodding to himself, he released his grip on the hilt. He turned back to the children to address them.

"I'm sorry for the hostility, but you were harboring the enemy. We've all been a bit...tense ever since Richter was attacked by _him_. We all have been on watch for the return of him, just in case he didn't accept Richter's mercy. With Richter being unconscious, we've been doubling our efforts. Now, let's go inside. Maybe, just maybe, Richter is in the condition to entertain guests. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Owl Knight, once of the Section Leaders for this house and forest."

Asriel just nodded while Frisk silently fumed with anger. He really had wanted to get Sans inside to talk to Richter. However, he saw what Asriel had meant by them not being able to convince the knight. He was indeed absolute in his words, whatever that meant.

As Owl Knight opened the door, he called out.

"Medusa! You've been relieved of your post. Feel free to take a break and relax."

Right as he got inside, he quickly turned around and bent down to face the children. His illustrious plume on his helmet slightly covered his visor, which he had to continually brush away while speaking.

"Try to stay in the Living Room. We've got several different guards patrolling the house and we don't want you to accidentally be knocked over. Also, DON'T GO IN THE TROPHY ROOM. Death is in there currently cleaning up the debris from the battle. We don't want you to cut yourself on the large amount of glass residing there."

Asriel gave a thumbs up.

"GOOD! Now, let's go inside."

Frisk and Asriel were surprised by the sheer rustic feel the inside of the house gave off. The only light in the room was being provided by the fireplace, despite the many candles on the walls. There seemed to be a body underneath a large gray quilt which was in the middle of one of the hallways exiting the room; an unusual dark spot practically staining the hardwood floor. A coffee table was pushed against one of the walls, looking as if it was recently moved. Several things of glassware were neatly organized on the floor next to the table. An old Grandfather clock rested in the corner of the room, on the other side of the fireplace. A large plush couch adorned the middle of the room, pushed back no doubt to give the sleeping man some space. The hallways were abnormally dark and the sound of moving armor echoed throughout them. The windows were completely covered with a dark cloth for reasons unknown to the children.

Owl Knight, after quickly making sure the room was empty, kneeled over and slowly shook Richter awake. Normally he wouldn't exactly want to wake the Belmont up. Today was a bit different though. He sensed that the children held information that would be imperative to figuring out why Sans had attacked Richter. The kids seemed to be close to the skeleton anyway. The Belmont quickly shot up, just to get tangled on the blanket and fall over. Owl Knight's outstretched hands were quickly slapped away by the tumbling human. After about a minute, Richter gave up and just sat on the floor since he made no headway with his efforts.

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, sir! You've just got some guests who might have information as to why you were attacked."

He woke himself up instantly after hearing the knight's statements. He wished things didn't have to get so serious so quickly. Of course things had to involve Sans. No one was willing to let the matter drop, despite Richter's insistence. He understood that they were doing it for the benefit of his health, but he really didn't like being protected by something that probably wouldn't even dare to attack him.

"Where are they? Might as well get his over with."

"Oh, they're behind me."

Owl Knight stepped aside and walked outside,allowing Richter to see clearly his visitors. All pretense of potential formality was dropped the instant he saw that he was going to be talking to Frisk and Asriel. What they had to do with Sans' attack, he didn't know.

"Guys? What the he-...why are you here?"

Asriel had gotten quite comfortable on the couch, so Frisk answered.

"We wanted to talk to you about Sans, dummy! Why else would we be here?"

Richter could think of several reasons why, but he shut his mouth. No point in it anyway, he felt. Sighing, the Belmont pointed towards the couch and SLOWLY untangled himself from the blanket on the floor. Frisk obliged and sat down next to a now sleepy Asriel.

Yawning, Asriel spoke dreamily.

"You know...this is really soft."

He then fell asleep despite all he had to do. Frisk face palmed while Richter laughed quietly. He himself had fallen asleep several times on that couch before. It was probably the only time he had gotten any rest while working since it was accidental.

"So, waddya got?"

Richter's question was more directed towards the awake human than the sleeping monster.

"We just came by to apologize for Sans and...kinda explain why he did it. He was actually with us, but a knight dude made him go away."

"For a good reason, Frisk. I don't know if you exactly understand this completely, but this house was attacked by him last night. Even if I spared him, I definitely don't want him here now or in the near future. To be honest, I'm still pissed that he attacked Ember. I swear, it's like trying to kill me wasn't enough."

Frisk tilted his head, puzzled. He hadn't heard of an "Ember" before.

"Who's Ember? Did someone else fall here with you?"

"Nah, nothing like that. Ember is one of the Fire Wargs here. She's my uhh...psychiatrist. That's off topic though. You said that you were here to explain why Sans attacked me and I REALLY want to know what gave him the guts to do it."

The small human noticed Richter's subject change, but decided to fulfill his demands. If Sans attacked more people than just Richter, than the Belmont was probably pissed.;

"I know what Sans did was wrong, but he had a decent reason as to why he did it."

Sneering slightly, Richter waved a hand at Frisk to signal him to continue on.

"He was worried that you being here would reset the timeline and we would be stuck back in the Underground."

"...what?"

"What's what?"

"Timeline? What the fu...What exactly do you mean by timeline and how can this "timeline" be reset, whatever that means?"

Frisk became slightly frustrated. Despite the Belmont's experience with all different forms of magic, he apparently didn't know about the timelines.

"Uhh...the timeline is, well, this; our lives and all that. A reset is us going back in time and everyone's memory being wiped of everything that had happened past then. It's like restarting a puzzle. Sans was worried that since you just suddenly appeared from another dimension and time, the world here would reset. He didn't want everyone to end back Underground. Sans thought that killing you would make sure that the timeline wouldn't reset and everyone would be fine."

Richter began to massage his temples. He was ungodly confused and nothing seemed to make sense. However, he began to get the feeling that he was unintentionally causing another disaster.

"Let me get this straight: Me being here is disturbing this world and it could potentially reset time itself? Sans wanted to prevent this? Shit, I-"

Frisk interrupted the very worried and rambling Richter.

"LANGUAGE"

"Oh, I'm sorry. But anyway, I should've let Sans kill me. Oh god, this is bad. Why didn't he just tell me? Is it too late? Have I destroyed another world? WHAT HAVE I DONE?!"

Richter's suddenly gripped his knees, hands clenching. He was sweating and his clouded eyes were looking straight through Frisk. He seemed to be in another world now. Frisk waved a hand in front of Richter's face just to receive no response. With no other choice, Frisk punched Richter in the hopes to get him to respond. It worked, but not in the way he would've preferred. Richter ended up deflecting Frisk's punch and threw the child over his shoulder into one of the dark hallways. A crash of metal and flesh followed the throw. Frisk's pained groan snapped Richter out of his trance. He quickly realized what he had done and put on the Agunea Gauntlet, outlining the area in a blue hue. Richter rushed down the hallway just to stop himself, amused and somewhat relieved.

Richter had managed to throw Frisk into an unsuspecting Axe Knight, who now had a small child caught on his armor. Unable to get up, the knight just slowly untangled the human's shirt from his plate mail. Frisk's constant struggling didn't help either of them in the slightest.

"Child, stop moving. I won't be able to get you off of me if you continue to writhe around like a caught fish. Do you want to get up or not?"

Frisk just looked towards the Axe Knight's helmet, before slowing his movements. He then noticed Richter, who was trying, and failing, to hold in his laughter.

"HEY! Are you just going to stand there and laugh at me or help clean up the mess YOU CAUSED!"

Throwing up his hands in surrender, Richter submitted. He really didn't want to argue with the now grumpy child.

"Ok, ok. I'll help."

While approaching, he mumbled under his breath.

"...it was funny though."

* * *

"So are you sure that this "reset" won't occur? If you aren't even slightly sure, then I'm perfectly fine with...uh, disappearing."

Frisk violently threw their hands into the air from exasperation. He didn't quite understand why Richter was so willing to give up. Something was wrong though; Frisk knew that much. It was so out of character to see Richter so downcast and solemn. His hands remained unmoving beside the arms of the chair he was sitting. He was slumping heavily into the chair and his breathing had only just calmed down. Even after helping Frisk untangle from the Axe Knight, his mood hadn't improved...despite the apparent hilarity that Frisk refused to acknowledge.

"NO! NO, NO, NO, AND NO! I won't allow you to hurt yourself because of this. No, the timeline won't reset. It would've already happened if you being here would mess with something."

"Are you sure? I don't think I could handle a repeat performance of...well.."

Richter's demeanor quickly changed. His hands began to clench the arms of the chair and his jaw became set. However, he faked a smile. His eyes betrayed his happy facade; displaying a pain that Frisk hadn't seen before.

"..you know what? Nevermind. I understand what Sans did now and I forgive him for it. Just tell him that next time he tries to hurt someone other than me, I won't hold myself back from kicking his ass."

Richter quickly shushed Frisk before he scolded him on his language.

"No. I don't want to to hear it. We aren't at Toriel's house. Now, I've got to start cleaning. It would be best if you wake up Asriel and head home. If there is anything else I should know, Sans can come by. I'll talk to the guards to make sure they don't attack him when he, if he, gets here. Sorry to cast you out so early, but like I said, I've got a lot to do. Thanks for coming by though."

Frisk, slightly angry that he was cut off, shook Asriel probably more than necessary. He guessed that pushing him off the couch might've been a bit much. Asriel was too out of it to care though. He just shook himself awake and turned upwards towards the glowering Frisk.

"Wha...what's going on? Did you tell him?"

He instantly saw the bad mood Frisk was in and decided to try to ask someone else. He rolled over and turned towards Richter.

"Did he tell you about the Sans thing?"

"Yes, Asriel; I was informed on everything."

"...so are you cool with-"

"Again...yes, I forgive Sans for the ordeal. I just hope he decides to actually talk about it next time instead of surprising me in the middle of the night."

Asriel threw both hands above him with a soft "Woo". Richter shook his head and addressed the now gleeful Asriel.

"Now, it would be best if you leave with Frisk. I've got a lot of cleaning to do and I need to catch up on my lost sleep."

Richter got up from his chair and led the children back to the front door. Opening it, he made a sweeping motion with his hand outward, directed towards the now darkening outside. Frisk and Asriel got the hint and walked outside. Stopping halfway through the yard, they turned to say their goodbyes to Richter; a shut door met their eyes.

* * *

It had only been a few days, but the waiting Richter did for Sans felt like an eternity. Despite now knowing the skeleton monster's motives for the attack, he couldn't help but feel jumpy. That feeling of nervousness proved to be a constant downer on his mood. Even the recently recovered Ember could see that Richter was more temperamental. He just didn't appreciate the instinctual urge to defend himself from a threat that didn't exist. He had just started to feel his childhood lust for fighting fade. Richter knew though that it would die down again soon enough.

Meandering about in the Altar Garden, his wait was finally over. After dismissing a Venus Weed in training from her duties in the garden, he turned to meet the sight of Sans investigating the Altar. He had a notepad out and was sketching the symbols and drawings that were engraved into the towering monument. Now seeing the skeleton, the Belmont was surprised that he didn't feel any true resentment towards him. It was as if they were back to a week prior. Richter guessed that he was getting used to becoming friends with his attackers. That sort of relationship probably wasn't good for one's heart though. He hoped that he could completely mend his relationship with Sans since he seemed to be a decent guy, if a little intrusive. Sadly, he knew that there always would be moments where he would have to submerge the instinctual urge to burry an axe into the skeleton's skull for what he had done to his crew. Casting his darker thoughts aside, Richter quietly stepped up next to the skeleton and began to trace one of the many lines with his finger. Sans halted his sketching and stared at the Belmont's finger as it dipped and weaved in between the curves and lines. He stopped at the faint, but large, stain that slowly led down the middle of the altar and pooled onto the bottom. Sans spoke out towards Richter's silent demeanor and the strange stain.

"is that...uhhhh...is that what i think that is?"

Richter retracted his hand and sat down on the base.

"No matter how much I wash and clean this damned thing, the blood won't come out. It doesn't make any sense. If I could get this far with its removal, why can't I finish it?"

Shrugging, Sans retorted with a much expected pun. He was still surprised by how casual the Belmont was being, since the last time they had met had been under combative circumstances.

"i don't think a slightly painted altar is going to **stain** your reputation with anyone."

Richter loudly groaned from the very obvious pun. However, his strange contentment with how...normal the situation was finally resolved his internal conflict as to if he should bring up the main subject of their meeting.

"Sans, let's just get this over with so we can do more productive things with our lives, like eating."

Sans was amused that the first thing Richter mentioned was food. With another shrug, he responded. If he wanted to get straight to the point, Sans was willing to do so.

"alright. my homeslice, i'm sorry about the whole assault thing. now thinking about it, i should've talked about the whole timeline problem with you. glad that you managed to beat me though. frisk told me about how willing you were to "disappear" after hearing about the potential situation and, well... basically, i was wrong about ya. i was wondering if we could retry this whole "friendship" thing. so, stick 'em out. don't you know how to greet a...new...friend?"

Just like the time back at Toriel's house, Sans had his hand outstretched towards Richter's sitting form. The Belmont stood up and clasped both hands around the skeleton's one. He was shocked by the absence of the farting noise that had accompanied the skeleton the last time they had shaken hands. He became even more confused by the skeleton's widening smile. Richter decided to sit back down to figure out what Sans was planning, only to figure out where that noise producing object had went; that being on his spot where he was sitting moments prior. The monster's deep chuckle was muffled by the groan and yell mix being spouted by Richter, as well as the soft "phhfft" sound coming from the cushion.

"so, how about we do this. i'll introduce ya to a nice eatery in the area if you pay the bill. normally i would say to put it on my tab, but muffet is a bit...finicky with money. after all, my funds are practically-"

"SANS, DON'T YOU DO IT!"

" **skin and bones**!"

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!"


	12. Epilogue: Accomplice's Accompaniment

There was something about having a routine that calmed Richter more than other remedies. He couldn't quite tell if he had developed his liking for it when he landed in the forest or when he was first trained. Whenever it was, he was quite content that it had developed. His routine was quite simple and it had been for the past several years: Wake up at 5:00 AM, dress and locate his bandanna that he continued to find in the strangest of places, lap Ebbot-town for a few hours, stop by Muffets for breakfast, walk with Frisk, Asriel, and Toriel to their school, patrol the town until 12:00, stop at Grillbys to get some lunch and socialize, usually leaving around 2:00 PM; continue patrolling until 6:00 PM and return home. His routine left him little time to do other tasks, but he preferred it that way. He still was trying to get rid of that empty feeling he got when he wasn't doing something. It had lessened ever since his arrival and would probably continue to do so for a few more years. Good thing he had time to spare.

This morning at his house for Richter seemed off though. It had started with him actually finding his bandanna in less than five minutes; a mind shattering new record when compared to the normal twenty minutes. To be honest, Richter suspected that the Brothers were conspiring with Sans to find the hardest locations to hide the sodding thing. As long as it stopped Sans from making his atrocious puns, Richter was content with it. However, that wasn't the first unusual factor. Usually Ember, on Wednesday, would accompany Richter throughout his morning routine. She was gone though from her normal resting place, where she would wait for Richter to exit his house. Seeing that empty patch underneath the one Willow Tree was unnerving and completely unexpected. To make matters worse, no one was in their post. For a minute, he was emotionally back to when he had first initiated the Village Project.

Breathing in and collecting himself, he remembered that this wasn't the first time that most of the staff were missing. The last time was over a very intense poker match between a Sniper of Goth and Akmodan II. Two rarely seen creatures, to the village inhabitants at least, had just shown up and joined the match. Apparently, Akmodan II had a wickedly sharp mind and could somehow read the tells of creature wearing armor...fucking armor out of all things. Richter had later talked to him about it, but stayed ambiguous to such extremes that not even Death could figure out what the mummy was referring to. The Sniper of Goth, however, was an incredible cheater. Despite several Spear Guards' requests that he be banned, Richter decided to let him have his fun. After all, not much was available at the time for entertainment. Not that it was a problem anymore. Sighing contently, he began to reflect on his successful efforts to introduce the Altar population to the monster and human populations. Not like it had taken him three years to completely integrate the groups or anything. He hated that one of his best attributes, stubbornness of course, was common in the majority of the human population. He just wished that they would stop hunting the Wargs. Their excuse was that they had mistaken them for wolves. That baffled Richter more than Galamoth's ability to fit through doors. The Wargs were at least three to four times the size of an actual wolf. It was good though that they couldn't actually be destroyed since their spirits return to the Altar. He didn't neglect their pleas though, for he knew it hurt like hell to be shot. Richter wasn't foreign to the concept of being hit with hunting rifles since a few of the Bone Muskets were lousy shots during practice. All they had to do was shoot at a dummy, but noooo...

After his little nostalgia trip in the forest, he began his jogging. Since he didn't train as much as he used to, he was determined to at least keep his stamina up. It was sadly necessary though. Ever since he had saved that one monster child from the mob of humans, he had been patrolling the town in case he was needed to stop any fights. It wasn't often that he was needed, but it was enough for him to do it. He had tried as hard as he could to make it a thankless job, but it didn't take long for Undyne to start blabbing about how "a man cloaked in blue was helping innocent monsters around town". It didn't take a teacher to figure out who exactly that man cloaked in blue was since Richter was the only human who wore blue on a daily basis. Yet, it was a teacher who directly confronted him after he had helped Asriel from a rather unruly group of children. The goat monster never told Richter where the kids had gotten the bricks OR why he had told Toriel despite him desperately begging that keep his muzzle shut on the subject. Toriel confronting Richter in the middle of Grillbys was the EXACT OPPOSITE of what he had wanted when it came to publicity. It all went downhill from there. People from in the town began to call him the "Cerulean Sheriff" despite the fact that he wasn't even involved in the town's system of law. It did work to lessen the anti-monster activities though. All it took was the pummeling of several troublesome humans who couldn't keep their opinions in check. He never risked using his magic against them for many reasons. Humans being incredibly susceptible to magic was definitely one of them. He was quite content with the small amount of combat he was involved in. He was sure that Salome enjoyed dealing with his wounds, including the countless times he was shot by a handgun. He never quite understood why people were constantly carrying the fucking things. He couldn't thank his god enough for the restorative powers of Monster Food.

Richter stopped by the center of town to check the time on his actual watch. Alphys had made him it after she overheard him complaining about how confusing his stopwatch didn't exactly know how to feel about the fox ears adorning the top of the watch, but Alphys had tried to explain it with something involving "anime". Despite her and Undyne's best efforts, it was still terribly confusing to the man. He would admit that he was stubborn to change he found unnecessary and electricity, which was apparently needed to watch "anime", was indeed unnecessary. After all, why pay gold when he could use his magic? He would never understand why people saught money so much. Then again, he still hadn't been introduced to the communities outside Ebbot-town. He still needed more time for an endeavor of such a caliber.

The watch read "7:38". He had been jogging for thirty minutes longer than he normally did. He had been too absorbed into his thoughts that he completely forgot to stop by Muffets for breakfast. That could be disastrous for the Belmont. After all, he was one of her main regulars. He usually arrived at her bakery at 7:00 and left at 7:30. If he booked it, he could arrive at her place at 7:45; forty-five minutes later than he normally got there. He made a mental note to buy double the normal amount to make up for being late. She usually had a croissant prepared when he got there in case he had to quickly leave. It wouldn't be the first time an emergency had pulled him from eating. It was much more common back when the Village was still being built. Cave-ins occurred more than he would've like. That was the problem with using magical explosives: They weren't exactly the most stable for controlled demolition. Having a sheet of rock be launched through his house, destroying his coffee table and the ship in a bottle that he was making, from the cave somewhat cemented his opinions on the explosives. They did a lot more physical mining after that.

Deciding that going later was better than skipping breakfast, Richter casted his fears of being eaten by Muffet's pet aside and headed towards her bakery. Ever since he had started jogging, he had managed to reach new records of speed. Thus, his commute there was rather short. As he approached the purple bakery, he realized that he might have to slow down. He stopped himself from slamming into the door a bit too late. Thankfully, the door, and frame, didn't break. It did swing open however, unleashing the stumbling man into the small cafe and bakery. The only thing that stopped him from colliding with the wall was the unfortunate table that managed to catch Richter. The table was apparently made from the same materials as the door. The Belmont just slowly clambered off the floor while creating more noise than necessary. The only other regular who was there, a muscular male human named Benny, sighed heavily before helping Richter get off of the ground. All of the normal attendees knew that the Vampire Hunter was always getting himself into trouble.

A feminine and melodious voice came from what was assumed to be the actual bakery section of the building. Its tone was stern and slightly frustrated.

"Undyne, the other spiders don't appreciate your "method" of entering my bakery. I'm afraid that if this continues, I'll be forced t-"

A five foot humanoid female spider, which was incredibly purple like her building, stepped into view from the doorway. The apron that adorned her body was covered in a shocking amount of flour and her hair was tied into a ponytail. Two of her six hands were rubbing her temples while her eyes scanned the room. She stopped mid-sentence at the sight of Richter, not Undyne, flopping around and trying to get up. Benny was trying to wrestle a chair from the death grip of Richter's left boot. He had no idea how the Belmont had managed to snare his foot in the chair. Richter noticed Muffet staring with disbelief and amusement and tried as hard as he could to not lose face.

"Uhhh...I'll take about four donuts today. Sorry I'm late. I...I had some stuff to do. Yeah, that's right."

"Ahueh~. Sure deary, just don't damage my chairs...again."

Both Benny and Richter winced at the mention of the chairs as Muffet retreated back into the kitchen. It had been on the day that Richter and Sans reconciled. While they were there for the first time, an incredibly intoxicated human entered the bakery and started spouting some insults towards Muffet. Benny had tried to escort the man out of the building, but was knocked out cold with a solid punch. Richter had then smashed a chair over the head of the drunkard. Richter's strength and the chair incapacitated the assaulting member. It did break the chair though and the Vampire Hunter had to make her a new one. Who knew that she would be so picky with her chairs?

They finally managed to remove the chairs from Richter and Richter from the table. Dusting himself off, he turned towards Benny.

"Thanks Ben. I swear, those chairs have a grudge against me or something."

"Don't worry about it, Blue. I'm surprised that Muffet just left it at that instead of getting angry."

Richter flinched at Benny's nickname for him.

"Dude, you do know what she's going to do to get back at me for the noise, right?"

"Yeah, she's probably going to raise the cost and call it a -"

Both Richter and Benny spoke simultaneously.

"SERVICE CHARGE."

Both men chuckled and began to waste some time by guessing how much money the "Service Charge" would be. They knew that Muffet could be ruthless when it came to money. Richter had asked her once, but her answer didn't really answer much. He quietly recited what she had told him years ago.

"You learn a lot when you run a bake sale for a hundred years.

* * *

Four donuts and the "Service Charge" later, Richter dusted his hands off and began to get up. He turned to Benny and said his normal farewells.

"Hey man, I've got to go again. You know the deal and all that."

Benny only nodded before chugging a pitcher of Spider Cider. Suddenly, the front door to the bakery slammed open and the Hunting Girl quickly rushed inside. The sudden crash of the door alone was enough to make Benny jump, but the nearly invisible appearance of the Hunting Girl made that Spider Cider he was chugging chug itself out of his mouth and onto the table he was eating at. Richter had, of course, adjusted himself to the sudden appearances of the creatures of the Altar and Village. Thus, seeing the Hunting Girl was no surprise. What she said though would've made Richter spit out his Spider Cider, if he had any.

"RICHTER! Something fell from the sky and landed in the forest near the Altar! It appeared the same way we did. We think it might be Dr-"

The Belmont didn't allow her to finish. He knew exactly what she was going to say. Vaulting over the several tables blocking him, he began to dash through the doorway. The Hunting Girl dove to the side as Richter barreled past her and outside. Despite all of her experience with him, she had never seen him move as fast as he was moving now. He wasn't even on the sidewalk, opting instead to just run down the road and literally over the vehicles driving there. She wouldn't be able to catch up with him if she tried and besides, she doubted that she was needed at the forest at the moment. She knew it wasn't Dracula, but someone else entirely. She did feel bad though for lying to Richter, though she didn't want to ruin the sudden surprise. After all, none of the creatures of the Altar had suspected for someone else to arrive through the same portal that Richter had gone through. Her guilt was interrupted by the coughing and sputtering coming from the other human seated at one of the tables. She was strangely amused by the man's antics of trying to clean the table while his body was being racked with liquid based coughing. Putting her sword to the side, she took a seat next to him. After choking some more on his beverage, he pulled some cloth out of one of his pockets and began to clean the table. Only once he finished did he turn to address her.

"So you work for Richter?"

She tilted her head forward slightly in acknowledgement. With no reaction being elicited by the man, she remembered that she was practically invisible.

"Yes and no. We are all merely very close companions who live in the same village. We do have some minor jobs though, like patrolling an area or tending to the center garden. However, magically, he can control us if he sought to."

Despite him just recovering from a coughing fit, he took a swig of what was left of the Spider Cider.

"So what exactly is it that you do?"

She found that this man was full of surprises. His questions were abnormal and slightly personal. She didn't mind though since he was the first human she had talked to, other than Richter, in several weeks.

"Me? I simply scout out activity in the town and report to Richter and Death."

The man's eyes widened at the mention of "Death" and he had to hold his mouth shut to not spit over the Hunting Girl. Finishing what was in his mouth, he immediately asked his question.

"Hold on a second there. Death, THE DEATH, works for Richter?"

She just sighed. Why was it so hard for the humans to understand that Death was a friend of Richter? It sounded simple enough to her, so why couldn't they see it as simple.

"I'm going to take your silence as a yes."

He shook his head softly and mumbled,

"Unbelievable. Normal human my ass."

The Hunting Girl tried to hold in her laughter, which resulted in some serious failure, at his statement. Richter was indeed not really human, despite him biologically being one. He certainly didn't act like one.

* * *

Richter hadn't moved this fast in his entire life. The vehicles he was dodging didn't serve as a deterrence as he continued to dash towards his home. It was the supposed return of Dracula that was pushing him. He had gotten so far in his life without having Dracula reappear. Dammit, he had thought Alucard could've killed the Vampire Lord. Even if Dracula beat Alucard, he still didn't understand why the vampire would come through the portal just to get Richter.. After all, Dracula must know that he had no hope as to defeating Richter. Unless...unless Dracula had become much more powerful from Shaft's spell. Richter decided to stick to that explanation. He really didn't want to think that his faith was misplaced. Dracula must've been stronger than anyone had suspected. Richter's legs suddenly became heavy at the conclusion of all of his thoughts: If Alucard had failed his mission of killing Dracula, then Maria must've lost as well. Richter knew damn well that she wouldn't be spared by the cruel vampire. His strength to continue running returned, but took the form of vengeance. If Dracula thought he could just kill his sister and come to Richter's home to kill him, he was sorely mistaken. Richter would make sure that Dracula was put through hell before he lost. He couldn't dwell on Maria now, lest he succumb to grief.

Arriving at the forest, he didn't take the normal path. Due to where his house was built, the path curved immensely. If he ran his normal route to his home, it would take longer than he wanted. He opted instead to carve his own through the trees. Simple math dictated that cutting directly across to his house would literally "cut" the time. He cursed himself for letting Sans' puns infest his own thinking and took off. The sound of falling trees and snapping wood accompanied Richter's trip through the forest. He didn't have time to care about what it would do to the appearance of the woods. If it became too bad, he would just claim that it was another path to his house. It was a much smaller problem than the potential return of Dracula. That took precedence over anything else. Grillby could last a day without Richter and Toriel could take her kids to school alone. Richter was the only person who could defeat Dracula if he was indeed stronger than before.

The intense burning in his thighs became noticeable to Richter right before he saw the smoke plumes in the sky, which coming from his chimney. He was so close! Leaning forward and clenching his jaw, he disconnected himself from the pain. He couldn't allow himself to falter now that he was in throwing distance of his house. Then again, Richter could throw something seriously far, so the distance may have been greater than he had expected. He began to focus on some of the more abnormal things that became obvious to Richter such as why hadn't any of his perimeter guards approached Richter during his run through the forest? He quickly settled on the answer that they were probably fighting Dracula. Then why didn't he hear fighting. That's when the Librarian's words returned to him. Dracula had control over the Altar before Richter did. However, why did the Hunting Girl tell Richter of Dracula's return? He mentally slapped himself after piecing together that it must bee a trap he was being lured into. Laughing, he slowed down as he approached the border of the forest, where it outlined his home. If Dracula wanted Richter to walk into a trap, he would oblige. That didn't mean they would know about it. He pulled out his Stopwatch and smiled wickedly. Dracula was surely immune to the effects, but his newly reclaimed minions weren't. Richter empowered the Stopwatch heavily as he entered his land surrounding his residence. He put his stopwatch into the breast pocket of his blue tunic and threw off his overcoat.

His movement faltered completely at the sight present before him. He unwillingly stopped fueling the Stopwatch as his heart began to flip its shit. It wasn't Dracula for sure. After all, when did Dracula wear green...and when was he ever female? The tables completely covered with food laid out precisely around the yard remained ignored by the Belmont as he just stared. She was seated on the porch with the Librarian, clearly being informed of something. She was glancing around while speaking to the Librarian, glaring at the roaming monsters. The several Spear Guards rushing out of the house and making a defensive perimeter around the house, probably due to the noise, were also unregistered by Richter. Everything was practically tunnel vision for him. All he was focused on was the woman now taking notice of the man standing in the middle of the yard. Everything faded to black once he locked eyes with her. Flashbacks coloured green from her irises invaded his mind as he lost consciousness. The last thing he felt was the solid contact of the ever unforgiving ground.

* * *

He was going to make it his personal crusade to never eat fish for rest of his undeniably short life in spite of those fucking Mermen. Why in the name of his lord did they, aquatic creatures, have the ability to spout fire. None of his ancestors had spoke of these abnormal creatures nor had they spoken of the unusual key he now held. One of his missed attacks had hit the wall, breaking off a sizable chunk. The newly created gash in the wall revealed a small gold object. Thinking fast, and under fire(literally in a sense), he grabbed it and bolted off onto a moving platform. After stepping off onto safe and stationary ground, he inspected the glittering item. It was a key of some sort, but it the end of it wasn't following the standards keys had to go by to actually open doors. The pin of the key was perfectly straight with no protrusion; resembling a golden cane. What made it even more odd was that he got the feeling that empowering the object would do something. It gave him the same feeling the Stopwatch did when he held it. Deciding that it could lead him to the next room, he tried to initiate an Item Crash with the object. It worked, but not in the way he expected. The key exploded, sending shrapnel into the Belmont's hands. Swearing profusely, he darted his eyes around to see if anyone, or anything, had seen that shameful display. His eyes caught onto something abnormal. A section of the wall was outlined in a blue glow, giving it the shape of a door. Smiling at his luck and completely forgetting his bleeding hands, he charged forward towards the door and braced his shoulder for the impact. The section of wall gave in, but opened into a set of stairs. He cursed his recently self-praised luck as he took a decent fall down what felt like a flight of stairs.

Recovering himself from the fall, he took in his surroundings. The walls were exactly the fucking same: a dark gray brick coated in some unknown brown paint. There wasn't any furniture in the room and there weren't any doors. However, a small platform protruding from the opposite wall served as a cot for...someone. Someone who had an unhealthy obsession the with the color pink. Richter only knew of one person who would dare to wear that much pink in the drab that used to be the village. Rolling off the ground, Richter quickly approached the platform. Annette had always talked about her younger sister, Maria. Specifically, her connection to animals and her very bright sense of fashion. Richter could see what she meant now. Maria stuck out like a sore thumb next to the stone walls.

From closer inspection, Richter could tell that she was faking sleep. He was endlessly amused by that.

"Oh dear, it looks like she's asleep. I guess I'll have to come back and rescue her later then."

She bolted up alarmingly fast and shouted, her voice fairly high in pitch. Richter jumped a bit more than he was willing to accept from surprise.

"NO! I'm awake, see? Oh...it's you! Big Sis always talked about you, Blue Man! You're here to rescue me?"

Richter nodded and gave her a once-over to make sure she wasn't wounded. Her dress was slightly torn, but everything else seemed fine.

"Not just you, but everyone else who was taken by those monsters. That includes your sister."

She comedically threw her hands to her side and stomped on the ground in a tantrum at the mention of her sister being captured.

"I think those meanies were cheating! They couldn't have captured her by playing fair."

Richter laughed at her statements. He envied her apparent childlike mind. If she had been raised like he was, then she wouldn't be as nieve as she was.

"Uhuh. Well, listen! We've got to go and get her. Once that happens, both of you will leave this castle and I'll go kill Dracula."

She began to pout. Her eyes begged Richter even before she spoke.

"Nuh-uh! I want to help you beat that big bloodsucker!"

"That isn't happe-"

He wasn't able to finish. Maria had already ran up stairs and exited through the hole in the wall. Richter called after her as he gave chase. He tripped while climbing up the steps, halting his progress.

"HEY! IT ISN'T SAFE UP THERE! THERE ARE SOME PRETTY FREAKY FISH MONSTERS UP THERE THAT DEFY NATURE!"

He could faintly hear her response. She was making some decent headway from Richter.

"OHHHH! I wanna see them!"

She was certainly going to be a handful.

* * *

Richter slowly roused to the feeling of wet cloth pressed against his forehead. Despite how much he struggled, he was unable to open his eyelids. It felt like someone had placed the Plate Lord's chain ball onto his eyes. Richter attempted to move his arms, but they weren't responding either. He couldn't help stop the feeling of entrapment. He began to struggle; to attempt to break through his own physical weakness and...to...just...move! However, his arms were pressed down and a familiar voice rang throughout whatever room he was in.

"Calm down Blue, you're in shock. You're perfectly safe."

Completely ignoring the person's advice, he continued to struggle while attempting to identify the voice. He only knew two people who called him "Blue": Benny and Maria. However, Richter had last seen him at Muffets before he took off. As for Maria, he drew a blank. He had the feeling that something had happened recently that involved her, but he considered it impossible. She was still in his old world. Or was she?

"Brother, stop squirming! You're going to knock off the towel on your head. It's me!"

At the mention of "brother", everything snapped into place. His memory suddenly flooded back into place. He remembered rushing out of Muffet's place to head towards his home due to the supposed threat of Dracula. However, when he had gotten there, Dracula wasn't there. Instead, it was...

Richter managed to pry his eyes open to see a face above his. Her brilliantly bright green eyes sparked with delight at Richter's awakening. She tilted her head slightly and smiled widely, sending her long blond hair to the side. Only her green ribbon kept it from falling in front of her eyes. So his memory hadn't failed him. Maria had somehow arrived at his homestead. He was shocked beyond belief as to how she had managed it. He couldn't care less though. His entire "family" was now in the same world.

"Dumb-ass, didn't you recognize my voice? You were shaking and moving so much I was afraid you would tumble off this couch. Tis a nice couch too."

"You can have it if you want, Maria. I've got a nice replacement. Ember is quite a nice couch, you know?"

Maria helped Richter slowly get into a sitting position before interrogating him. For as long as he had known her, she had no tact. His head was absolutely killing him from hitting the ground.

"Ohhh, what's this? Already in a relationship with someone? I leave for five minutes and you fall in love."

Richter playfully slapped her arm before retorting.

"No, I am not dating Ember. She's one of the Fire Wargs here and she is my therapist."

He then muttered almost inaudibly,

"Anyway, it's more like five years then minutes."

Her face blanched and she backed up slightly from Richter. Of course she heard what he had said. She was indeed their hometown's best tracker, even more so than Richter; for good reason, too.

"Five years? What are you talking about? Both of us were in the Castle Keep when Shaft did that thing with his magic and created that portal. I jumped in right after you got sucked into it."

Richter rubbed the back of his head and flinched from pain. Apparently the ground had done more than cause a headache. He pulled his hand forth and inspected it, surprised to see the lack of blood. His day was getting better.

"Maria, look at me for a second. Hell, look at your surroundings. There must be several questions that immediately brought up. Like "Why isn't Richter visibly dying from his fight with Shaft" and "Why are all of the monsters from the castle not attacking us?""

She quickly opened Richter's tunic to see his heavily scarred chest. Hands hovering over some of the scars, she softly spoke.

"This doesn't make sense. That old dude was saying something about an altar, but you showed up. He's the only reason why I didn't attack any of the monsters wandering around the forest. AND THIS!"

She indicated, rather forcefully, at his chest and the scars. Richter felt her tracing one specifically. Looking down, he saw that it was the one Shaft had given him during their fight. A simple electricity orb had torched a decent section of his chest; starting at his waist and ending at his right shoulder.

"These all vary in date received. Yet, I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that I saw some of these be inflicted. Can you explain this?"

Richter grabbed both of her shaking hands and slowly brought them down to her lap. He now noticed that she had brought in a chair from the kitchen. He could tell that she was becoming panicked. Richter sympathized with her completely. Despite how tough she had become, she was still young. She hadn't had the training and upbringing the Belmont had, so she wasn't as used to sudden shocks as he was.

"Sis, listen. This is going to take a while to explain, but you need to know all of it. I need you to remain calm while I tell you as much as I can. Can you do that for me?"

Taking a few deep breaths, she nodded. Richter wouldn't dare lie to her, so she knew that he was about to lay down some major information. It was rare that he would implore someone to do something.

"I'll try."

Sighing, Richter began with his lengthy explanation, starting with his arrival and ending at hers. He just hoped that she would understand. After all, how does someone explain five years with complete accuracy? He didn't mention his constant falling though. She didn't need to know of constant tumbling about. He knew that Maria didn't need THAT ammunition to use against him. She would soon find out just by watching him anyway. She always managed to find something to tease him with. At least, that was true at his old world. He had no idea if she would change forever like he had. If the ever resilient Belmont was affected by it, then he doubted that anyone could negate the potential change. He just silently prayed to his lord that the change would be positive, like his own.

* * *

"Then we get to today. I was doing my daily rounds and I stopped by Muffet's Bakery for breakfast."

"So Muffet is that greedy spider woman?"

Richter wasn't exactly too fond of her bluntness. Sadly, it was something she had adopted from Annette.

"Greedy, yes. However, that doesn't make her a bad person. In fact, she's quite wonderful once you get to know her. She reminds me of you: a lovely thorn in my side albeit she's attacking my wallet more than me. "

Maria crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. Richter noted that she was smiling though.

"Back to what I was saying! I was at Muffets when the Hunting Girl came by and told me that Dracula had shown up here."

Richter took in a deep breath and sighed outwardly. She could tell that he was either going to start a fight or confess something; she severely doubted the former. She had learned a lot from Richter in the past few hours she was in his house. He had changed so much.

"I'm just going to be honest with you. I assumed the worst of the worst. See, I thought Dracula had killed that man, Alucard, and then gone thro-"

Maria burst into laughter at something Richter had said. The Belmont was endlessly confused. He quickly checked his surroundings to see if Sans had shown up. It wouldn't be the first time. She eventually calmed and shook her head.

"Blue, you thought Alucard was human?"

That didn't help his confusion.

"Of course! What else would he be?"

"He was a dhampir, Richter. I knew it from the start. When I first met him, I had instantly felt that something was off about the man."

Richter leaned back into his couch, applying his new knowledge to the past. If he was a dhampir, then that meant that Trevor's stories were true. Richter had naturally assumed that the story had changed due to being passed down through several generations. A dhampir was extremely rare, to the point that he was pretty sure that only the Belmont family knew of them. Yet, now thinking about it, the name Alucard did sound familiar. That led him into his next series of mental tracks: Why Alucard was there. He said that he had to kill Dracula for a personal reason. Why would someone want to kill the Vampire Lord for a reason other than him being a threat to mankind. Alucard's reason sounded almost parental in nature. That said reason suddenly hit Richter like a Nova Skeleton's beam. Richter lowered his head and quietly muttered,

"Dracula was Alucard's father."

Maria nodded at his evaluation. She sought to get Richter back to his storytelling though. She had gotten the feeling that he was admitting something that had bothered him ever since he started talking. His eyes told her almost everything she needed to know about the subject matter.

"As you were saying? Something about assuming-"

Richter's head quickly shot up with a loud "OH" as he began to rant again.

"Sorry, we got sidetracked for a second there. Anyway, I thought that Dracula had killed that DHAMPIR, Alucard, and then he had killed you. I didn't know that you were in transit via the rift. You've got to keep in mind that I've been in this world for five years and rising. The idea that Dracula had killed you and had the balls to come here to off me pushed me to want to kick his ass SO much harder. I hadn't moved that fast in my entire life. So much so that I may or may not have, uh..., carved a completely new path through the forest. Owl Knight is probably going to be pissed."

Maria tried to conceal a snort of amusement. Tried was the key word, for Richter had obviously heard her. He faked offense and away from her. That just fueled her laughter even more.

"Laugh all you want, but Owl Knight seriously will be angry. He absolutely adores this forest. So do the Wargs. They much prefer the surface over the Village. Not that I blame them though. I don't think I would ever adjust to living underground like that. I'm sure that's one of the many reasons why I sympathize with the monsters."

Richter attempted, and succeeded, at getting up off his couch. He powered through the unusual dizziness to approach one of the windows. Pushing the curtains aside, he watched as many of the Altar creatures were setting up a festival for...something. He didn't quite understand what it was for. He would've guessed that it was the arrival of Maria, but this much would've taken them to be prepping for a while. They surely didn't know that she would show up today. If they did, he would have to lecture them quite thoroughly for withholding information of something so important to him. Lost in thought, it took Maria to throw one of the couch pillows at him to finally snap out of it.

"Wha-what? Yes, Maria?"

"I asked you a question, Blue. I can't believe that you forced me to toss that poor pillow at you to get your attention."

Richter bent down and picked up the incredibly plush pillow. Smiling, he quickly tossed it back to the sitting Maria. Despite her best efforts, she received a face full of pillow, knocking her off her chair. She just sprawled across the ground without care and stayed there. It didn't matter to her anymore; she was just glad that she could have these conversations again. Maria knew that Richter probably missed them more, so she was striving to get the most out of their current situation. She couldn't exactly imagine how he was feeling. Richter always kept his inner wants and feelings hidden to all but Annette. Even Maria was left in the dark on certain things. She had always assumed it was her age, but that changed over time. Maria eventually taught herself how to read someone's emotions based off of their eyes. A silent agreement was formed between the two: Richter would allow her to try to read him, but she wouldn't bring up what she "found".

"Sorry to **floor** you, sis, but what was your question?"

Damn you Sans, he thought. Maria would flip her shit over Sans' puns in the good way. He was glad that she had adopted Richter's old carefree lifestyle...even if he lost it himself long ago. Maria eventually pulled the pillow off her face and responded.

"I was wondering which group of monsters you were referring to when you said you sympathized with them."

Richter turned his attention back to the working Village Residents. Maybe he had forgotten the birthday of someone, Altar or Monster. As much as he cared about others, he was awful at remembering key dates. Toriel had recommended that he write the dates down. However, that would only work if he could remember the dates by the time he got home. He didn't blame his staff for taking initiative. Someone had to pick up Richter's little slack. He wouldn't admit that he felt it was necessary.

"Blue, don't zone out on me again. I have another pillow I can throw if I have to."

He shook his head and glanced behind his shoulder, where he saw a tired Maria threatening to throw his second, and last, pillow. It was somewhat amusing to see her preparing to toss it while flattened out on the ground. She somehow gave off the appearance of just waking up. He flashed her a quick smile before finally answering.

"Sis, the answer is obvious. Both."

Richter was promptly assaulted by the plush headrest. He couldn't help but feel like it was mutiny on the pillows part. Why must his furniture betray him so? Maria's incessant giggling accompanied Richter's fall as he purposefully overreacted to the hit. He "stumbled" forwards and landed on top of a squirming Maria. Richter went completely slack and spoke in a comical tone. It only became stronger at her weak slaps to get him off of her. Despite how strong she thought she was, Richter could make himself nearly immovable if he wanted to.

"Thou has mortally woundeth me so! Thus, entrapment awaits you; your sins weighing heavily upon your body!"

With anyone else, they would've assumed he was being serious. Richter always gave off a solemn vibe to newcomers. But Maria, she knew Richter better than he knew himself. She always knew what he meant, no matter the situation. It helped her when they used to have their sparse arguments. Despite Richter's fairly harsh words, she knew what he truly felt. His upbringing hardened him and forced him to utilize his negative emotions; empowering his own abilities with the emotional energy. There was a simple reason why his magic had apparently become so strong in this new world despite his health at the time ebbing away. His pain, suffering, and sadness integrated themselves into his magic. He was the strongest because he had endured more than any mortal should've. A blessing and a curse, in her eyes. However, she was determined to help become his anchor. Yes, his life may have changed for the better, but she could see in his eyes a locked gate. It was slowly degrading over time, and it would eventually break again and continue to do so for the rest of his life. He would need a solid reminder that he had pulled through and he had family...that he hadn't failed himself and others. After all, that's what her job as his adopted sister was. It always had been ever since she was rescued, but she didn't know it until now.

* * *

Richter was, and wasn't, surprised by the sudden appearance of Ember in his Living Room. It wasn't her appearance, but it was what she said after. It always seemed to be that way with him. He and Maria had been discussing the Dreemurr family when Ember had softly sauntered into the room. Maria, being practically a shaman when it came to animals, fawned over the large beast. The only thing that had stopped her from doing it when she was raiding the castle was the fact that they were fighting the creatures. All adoration could be easily lost when one is being attacked by them. She started to bounce around the room once she noticed the clearly close bond Richter and the Fire Warg had. He had gotten off the couch and sat next to the Warg's crouched form. Maria recalled that the large creature was somehow his therapist. Ember, after glancing over towards the fangirling Maria, "spoke" to Richter.

"(Hey Richter, mind coming outside for a second? There's a small problem that you need to fix. No one else can, it seems.)"

The Belmont sighed, but obliged to her request. He ran his hand through her fur as he told Maria of his sudden duty. It seemed that even on occasions such as this, he couldn't catch a break. Maria would understand though. He recalled Annette's words from when he had saved her, just to be attacked the minute they exited the door by some Harpies. He always hated the Clocktower.

"The never ending battle of life; an unstoppable iron wagon driven by the horses of fate."

Maria had stopped vibrating with excitement and turned towards Richter, confused. The Belmont had never been one for prophetic phrases. He was much more direct than anyone else she knew. Only her sister, on rare occasions, deemed it necessary to spout one out. It had always confused Maria, which was probably the sole reason as to why she did it.

"What exactly does that mean, Blue?"

"What it sounds like, sis. I've got to go outside and deal with something. Apparently, only I can solve it."

Maria approached Richter and extended her hand. She wasn't going to let him deal with any problem alone on the same day that she got there. It wouldn't be courteous.

"I'm coming with you. I want to meet more of the "Villagers" anyway. You continue to speak highly of them, so I seek to see if they are up to your hype.

He gladly accepted and he was promptly pulled up. Ember walked next to the fire and rested, while Richter and Maria approached the door. Sighing, he spoke while opening it.

"I wonder if I can take tomorrow off. I'm sur-"

He was on the porch with his head tilted towards Maria when he was interrupted by an earsplittingly loud "SURPRISE". Richter and Maria quickly recovered their senses as they immediately noticed the source of the sound. Surprise indeed for Richter, for the yard and a decent section of the forest was littered with the largest assortment of Altar creatures he had seen since he held the first meeting. It seemed that the only places in the yard that weren't masked by some form of monster were where the tables covered with the food he had seen earlier were. Someone had set up several floating candles around the yard to illuminate the tables. From the word "surprise", Richter assumed it was a party of some sort. A party for what, he didn't know yet. Maria was equally confused.

"Guys, mind explaining this? This clearly isn't for Maria, since she just got here like two hours ago."

Death, who amusingly enough was wearing a Party Cone on his head, responded. He began to hover closer to Richter until Death "stood" in arms length of him. Maria instinctively took a step back from the approaching boss.

"So it seems that your memory still fails you and since I know how your mind works, you won't figure it out unless I tell you. Today marks the six year anniversary of us arriving in this world."

Richter's hands rose to his head and he muttered,

"Holy shit, seriously? Six years?"

Maria turned towards the overwhelmed Richter and decided to question him about his ability to keep track of the date.

"I thought you said five years. How do you not know how long you've been in a completely foreign world? Your skills of tracking time are drastically awful."

Richter didn't acknowledge her questions and instead looked around with a face of bewilderment. He was touched, but confused, as to why they would go through all of this effort for a simple anniversary. Death seemingly heard his thoughts and spoke.

"Today is a major day for everyone here. It symbolized a second chance for all of us; turning over a new leaf and utilizing our time to making use of our new lives. However, we wouldn't have gotten far without you leading the charge into our new futures. A vanguard as always, you are. You were the one who pushed us to continue building, to explore and socialize, to embrace the new cultures on the surface. Without you, all of us would still be living in that Altar; too nervous and scared to take initiative. I'm not talking about you living, I'm talking about you, going against everything you knew about us, mutually pushing us to a greater goal. For all intents and purposes, we never thought you could get this far when you first entered the altar. We all shamefully assumed that you would falter due to your past...and I am glad that we were wrong. You are the true embodiment of what the Belmonts are. For all of what you have done for us in the past and what you are doing now, I sincerely thank you. No, WE thank you."

Death outstretched his hand, which Richter shakily accepted. Richter quietly muttered a quiet "No problem" and Death let go. He turned to the crowd and prepared to address them. He would've let Richter do it, but he was staring at the surprisingly hard grass. Death hoped the man would snap out of it and enjoy the party. Everyone had been planning it and preparing it for a few weeks now.

"NOW! Let us begin the festivities! This world's monsters should be arriving in an hour or so. Once they arrive, Richter will give his speech and then we will get back to the actual party. Until then, relax and enjoy yourselves! All of us have earned it."

Maria came up next to the Belmont and placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned towards her, still stunned, and was met with one of the brightest smiles he had ever seen from her; clearly showing that Maria had gotten over the shock and was incredibly content with something.

"Blue, go out and talk to them. Have some fun for once! Just know that I am incredibly proud of what you've done here. I never thought I would see my brother reach such heights. You're making my job of catching up to you way too hard, jerk. But, just because you are older than me doesn't mean you can shrug off responsibilities like enjoying your life. If you do that, then I'll catch up faster than you know."

She retracted her hand and ran into the crowd, her destination being Salome and some of the other witches. It wasn't every day when one could talk to a coven of witches.

* * *

Richter didn't quite understand how they managed to convince him to get on the podium and even more so him giving a speech. What made it worse was that it wasn't a speech to just the Village Monsters. Nope, it was to them, the other group of Monsters, and Maria. He wasn't exactly sure which one made him more nervous. It wasn't even a business speech. But there he was, standing in front of an countless amount of monsters and of course, Maria; everyone expecting him to start talking about his time in the "New World". Suddenly finding his resolve, he decided that if they wanted a speech, he would give them one. It wouldn't be long. It wouldn't be undesirably sweet. Hell, it wouldn't be sophisticated. It would simply be the truth in all its glory. That's if you can count an emotional mess glorious

Clearing his throat, he mentally told himself to suck it up and speak without fear. After all, a Belmont doesn't show fear. That single ideal was hammered into his head since birth.

"Well isn't _this_ a surprise? I'm sure most of you know that I'm terrible with keeping track of the time. So when I saw all of these tables with delicious food, I mentally sought for the answer. Of course, I drew up a blank. I don't know why I even tried. Actually, you know what? I'm pretty sure that you guys played off of my terrible memory to make this party! No matter how much I try to be offended, I can't. Sorry to disappoint."

Some of the Village Residents laughed, but they let him continue.

"SO, I guess I better talk about all of this. I'm going to be honest with all of you here. My first couple of weeks here weren't weeks to me. I lived day by day. I went to sleep thinking that I'd wake back up in that hellhole with Shaft using me as a puppet and when I woke up, I think I hoped it would happen. Everything in my mind was telling me that it was all a dream; that nothing in this world would ever work out for a Belmont such as myself. But then those days turned into weeks, and those weeks turned into months. Suddenly, a year had past and nothing had happened. Next thing I knew, it was two years, wait three. Nope, now four. OH WAIT, FIVE! Now, we've finally reached six. Nothing had changed except my viewpoint on my life. People say that wisdom comes with age, but I'm sure that none of them know why. It isn't your life experiences that does it. Sure they help, but they aren't the true reasons. The actual reason is that you live through life noticing that time will continue without you. Life doesn't give a shit if you're there or not. People who live long enough to see this realize that the only way you can make life care is if YOU care about life. You suck up your problems and you pay attention and you learn. People weave their own stories in the hopes that they learn something from them. If I never realized this, my life story would be complete tragedy. My story has already been woven, thanks to all of you. Despite all of my claims of being a rock to everyone, I think it was reversed. I know for sure that I wouldn't be here without all of you reminding me that life is continuing. In the end, my pride and all of your existences pulled me from my mental ptsd and showed me that life doesn't give a _FUCK_ if I'm here...So I had to give it a reason to care. I realized that a Belmont has to give life a purpose as to keeping them in this existence. Holy hell was it hard, but that just reinforced that I had to earn THIS! We all had to earn this! To make up for past sins, to give ourselves a purpose, etc. Besides all that, we made it. And to use a slightly revised quote from Death,"For all of what you have done for me in the past and what you are doing now, I sincerely thank all of you."

Applause ruptured the silence after Richter's speech. He evened his breathing and slowly stepped away from the podium. The deafening applause continued as he walked to Maria, who was trying her hardest to hide her tears. He knew that today must've been hell for her emotionally, so he held out his arms and embraced her. She sobbed into his chest while he massaged her back. She was always more emotional than him; something that had kept him balanced along with Annette's hospitality and love. His mind flashed back to when they had killed Dracula for the first time.

* * *

Maria and Richter stood outside the ruins of the castle, strangely solemn. Well, Richter was solemn. Maria was hopping around in joy. Annette and the other women had gone to the village before the castle collapsed. Richter was sure that they would be fine. Annette knew her way around a dagger anyway. The forest behind them was eerily silent due to the lack of monsters. It felt wrong to the Belmont. He was too used to the constant combat to return to a life of peace.

Maria finally noticed how somber Richter was and tugged on his tunic. Looking down, Richter could see Maria staring back up at him with a smile that could blind anyone who came across it.

"Mister Blue, why are you so sad? We just killed the big bad guy and now we get to go home! Isn't that a good thing?"

Richter could see his reflection in her vibrantly green eyes and noticed too what she meant. He was bleeding and the distinct look of depression had latched itself onto his face. Faking a smile, he looked away in the hopes that she wouldn't notice the pain that came with lying to her.

"I'm fine, just a bit tired. I had to do a lot more work than you, Maria."

He could hear her launch herself into another tantrum, kicking up a storm in the grass.

"NUH-UH! I worked ten times harder than you did!"

Richter could feel his scowl slowly fade at...her. Just her being her seemed to raise his spirits higher than alcohol could. He turned and bent down towards her and smiled a true smile.

"Well I worked eleven, so HAH!"

He got a flick to the nose by an aggravated Maria. Before she could retort, he continued.

"Maybe, once you become my sister, I can teach you how to work twelve times harder."

Her anger instantly dissipated into joy as she audibly gasped.

"You mean it? I can be your sister?"

"Well, I'm planning on marrying Annette and you need to be part of the family. That, and you have immense potential. What you did back there was really impressive for a girl your age."

She tackled Richter with an incredibly constrictive hug, repeating "thank you" over and over again. Even when Richter collapsed from the weight, she didn't let go. Knowing that he couldn't shake her off, he just stayed there. If the rest of his life would be like this, he was content. The urge to fight had disappeared the instant he had started to talk to Maria. Softly speaking to himself and to her, he said,

"I could get used to this."

* * *

Richter noticed that Maria had neither stopped crying or let go. He needed to remind her that he was fine; that everything was fine. A confession like that was bound to do something to his relatives and he knew it. Even some of the monsters were trying not to tear up at what he said. He suddenly recalled a sentence he had been repeating to himself for the years after Dracula had died. He knew for certain that Maria would remember it. He made it a habit to say it at their table in the morning and afternoon. Maria had occasionally reminded him to say it when he forgot. It served as a reminder to all of them that they survived and that Dracula wasn't supposed to return; and that he had a purpose other than fighting. When the blackouts started to happen, he stopped saying it all together. That alone was what clued Maria to look for Richter at the castle once it showed up. He lowered his head and placed it onto her shoulder, whispering,

"I could get used to this."

She slowly freed his tunic from her death grip and looked up towards him. Her face was red and it gave her the appearance of being ill. Richter silently gave himself the mission to see this face as little as possible. She didn't deserve the sadness, only happiness should be destined for her. She shouldn't have to go through what he had to go through. Her heart was too pure for that. He was destined for this life and she wasn't. After sniffing slightly and rubbing her face with one of her hands, she whispered,

"You already have."


End file.
